The House
by luv2beloved
Summary: The Cullens entered the House and was thrown into a killer's deadly game in which the only way to win is to lose...and the only way out is to go in. One game. Seven Players. Three rules. Game ends at dawn. Please R&R!
1. The House Prologue

**A/N: Here we are off to a new story and believe me, this is one that has never been done. Please give it a chance and review. This disclaimer is for the entire story: I do not own any of the characters mentioned. All credit is given to Stephenie Meyer, Frank E. Pertti and Ted Dekker. This story is a crossover of Twilight and The House. The entire story will be written in third person.**

**Prologue:**

He stood completely still in the entryway, staring down at his own shadow sprayed across the floorboard for a moment before looking up to study the array of dust. He ran a finger across the molding that bordered the room, bringing it up to his nose; the stench of rat urine. The rustling of the floorboards above brought his eyes up to the beams dropping down toward the center of the earth.

This room bore very few remnants of the events that had led to the dawn. From where he was standing, it was just one more abandoned house. Interesting.

But the rest of the house told the truth.

Beneath his heavy black boots, the floorboards lay shoulder to shoulder like they were burying the dead. Each one cupped with creeping moisture, the edges buckling, obscured by the bray dust and fallen flakes of paint.

Across the room in which he was standing, a movement caught his eye as the rose-printed wallpaper began to flutter. Something began to scratch and bite its way through. Eventually a little beady nose with the same eyes looked at him. Neither one at all concerned with the other's presence. The rat made its way through the wall and then scurried off along the baseboard.

At the far end of another room, a tattered curtain blew in the wind from the only broken window in the house. That was a pitiful attempt at an escape. Apparently, no one had been there in years.

But when some curious passerby – or the police for that matter, should they be so fortunate as to stumble upon this place – wandered from the beaten path, stepping even closer inside, they would find signs to the contrary. And those that dare to take the steps that lead them to the mysteries below would find even more signs in abundance.

Death lingered here in the musty air; even up here where he was standing, but even more so from down below. The walls were like shrouds, enfolding every space in exquisite darkness. It had been a perfect arena for a perfect game.

And already Barsidious White was looking forward to the next random passersby to step foot into this house and play his game. After all, the only way out was to go in.


	2. The House 5:17PM

**Chapter 1**

**5:17 pm**

"Edward, can you please slow down?" Bella said a bit too loudly at the close range in which they where sitting, "You're going to kill us!"

Edward looked down at the speedometer, rolling his eyes. He was only cruising along at a hundred, far from his normal speed limit.

"Bella, I am not going to kill us," he replied, taking hold of her hand, "and besides, I can't die."

Bella just huffed and put her earbuds back in to listen to her iPod. Edward looked at her, trying to figure out when exactly Bella had changed. They had been married for only two weeks and already the honeymoon felt like it was over.

"Edward!"

The speedometer began to inch back up and he tried to force his foot to relax, "Sorry."

"What's the matter with you?"

Edward turned to look into her brown eyes, "What's the matter—." _Easy Edward, control your temper, _"I'm just a little tense, okay?"

She smiled at him and reached over to turn the radio on, "Maybe you should listen to some music?"

His grip tightened on the steering wheel, "Yeah, that has been your answer to everything lately, hasn't it?"

Bella furrowed her brow together, "Excuse me?"

He let out an unnecessary breath; he needed to stop taking her bait. "Sorry," he said for the tenth time in the last hour.

Always apologizing. He looked her way and forced a smile, hoping that she would believe it, but he knew it never made it to his eyes. It hadn't for a while now.

She was beautiful, enough to capture the heart of any man in the world, just like she captured his unbeating heart. Brunette, youthful, a real credit to the tight jeans that she was currently wearing; everything a guy could long for. No doubt those deep pools of brown eyes could still sparkle, but the spark had left sometime during the past couple of weeks. Right now, they were being covered up by a pair of designer sunglasses, and craning to see out the back window.

"I think there's a cop behind us."

Edward looked up to the rearview mirror. The highway, which had narrowed to two lanes, curved lazily through the late fall forest and farmland, rising and falling over dips and inclines, hiding and revealing a single car. It was gaining on them, near enough now for Edward to get into the man's mind. The rack of currently unlit blue lights perched on top were now visible to the naked eye. Edward looked down and checked his speed, letting the pressure of his foot loosen on the gas.

The police car kept coming. The man behind the wheels thoughts going to the plates and thinking about calling in the car as stolen. Not many drive a new silver Volvo along this part of Route 66.

"You better slow down," Bella said, turning her attention to Edward.

"I'm going the speed limit."

"You sure?"

"Bella, I can read the signs."

A few seconds more, the cruiser caught up with them, the entire review mirror covered by the reflection. Edward could see the iron jaw locked on the officer. His black sunglasses obscured the view to his eyes, but not his thoughts...

Edward slowed down even more so, hoping that the cop would pass and not rear end them as he was considering. Yet the highway patrol continued to inch closer.

Edward smashed his foot on the gas and gunned the full power of the Volvo. Bella fell against her seat, being pushed in by the force.

"Edward, what are you doing?"

"He is thinking about rear ending us."

Bella turned to look at the cop as it fell back ten yards or so. Its red and blue lights began to flash to life.

Bella let out a huge huff, "Great."

Even though Bella's was the one mind that was cut off from Edward, he could already hear the blame that was going on inside. It was obvious by the tone of her voice. Always the blame and always the apologies. _But she is the one that is having second thoughts,_ Edward thought to himself.

The cruiser pulled up next to them, veering into the oncoming lane. The uniformed officer turned to face Edward, meeting his eyes, or at least what Edward thought were his eyes. There was no expression on the cop's face; it was a total blank, as was his mind. Edward forced his eyes back to the road and set the speed control to sixty miles an hour.

The two cars were now side by side, matching each other's speeds, locked in formation.

"What are you doing, Edward? You need to pull over."

_I would if I could_. Edward looked toward the side, trying to find a suitable place to pull over. The forest was thick on either side of them; vines draping all over the place, building a wall along the shoulder.

"I can't. There is no shoulder. I just can't…"

Edward slowed the car down, the cruiser matching his speed. There had to be a turnaround somewhere on this deserted piece of highway. He began to veer off.

The cruiser surged and left them behind, lights still blazing in silence. Fifteen seconds or so more and the car was just a dot in the distance. Eventually it was gone.

"What was that about?" Edward asked, checking his mirrors, rubbernecking and easing back onto the highway. He tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

"You were speeding," Bella said, pulling the map out of the glove box, avoiding his eyes.

"That is not what he was thinking and besides he did not even pull us over. And why do you think he was so close to us? You saw how close he was."

"Well, what exactly was going through his head?" Bella retorted, "And besides we're in the back country on this long ass highway. The cops around here let you know when you do something wrong."

"Yeah, but you don't run some off the highway for speeding."

Bella slapped her hands on her thighs out of frustration; though, the one that should have been feeling frustrated was Edward. Edward had promised to take Bella to see Renee one last time before the change and ever since they had been in this car on the way back to Forks, they had done nothing but fight and complain.

"Edward, do you think you can get us back home in one piece, and legally? Please, I would really like to see Charlie one more time while I am still alive."

Edward chose to bite his tongue instead of making a comeback, and concentrated on the road. _Just save it until we make it home._

Bella shook out her shoulders, put a smile on her face and turned her attention back to her iPod.

The wedding had changed everything for them. All he had left now were the memories that stole his mind away even as his eyes remained fixed on the road ahead. Her arms wrapped around him, the secrets that were shared with just a glance. All she had been asking was for him to change her; make her one of them. But he had been coming up every excuse in the book to put it off and now that her nineteenth birthday was just a week away, he knew he could not put it off any longer. She had fulfilled her side of the bargain; now it was time for Edward to do what he had promised: damn her soul for eternity.

"You're lost, Edward?" Edward shook his thoughts as Bella began to look down at the map.

_Yep, I am lost. Lost at how to fix this without ruining your life._

"Edward?"

He brought himself out of his daydream and looked out at the road ahead of him. The forest began to break apart, now giving way to crude homesteads and stump-filled pastures.

Bella began to scan the map, studying all the little red and black lines, but _he _was the one who was lost. With his heightened senses and her looking at the map, he began to consider which of them was really lost.

"Maybe we should pull over so you can hunt," Bella asked, the words more of a statement than a question, "You have been pretty grumpy since we left Renee's. And besides we are still lost."

_Me, I'm the one who has been grump; _he knew that the words that would leave his mouth next would be laced with sarcasm. "What do you mean? I am fine. I can wait until we stop for the night and what do you mean _we_ are still lost? You're the one reading the map."

"Did you not see that highway marker? It said five." She traced her fingers along the map, "We somehow got off of 66."

Edward tapped his finger to a black line, "Where does that one take us?"

"Not home."

Edward's mind picked up on the policeman's mind again and his fingers tightened around the wheel. The red and blue lights flashed up ahead.

"Oh, great," Bella sighed, flopping back into her seat, "We _really_ don't need this."

Edward slowed down as they approached the patrol car parked just beyond the yellow cones that had been set up to block the ongoing highway.

**Repaving Operation. Highway Closed to Thru traffic**

"Well, we have to turn around now," He pulled off onto the gravel and then had a second thought, "Actually, let's ask him. There might be a faster route than backtracking."

Edward eased his Volvo up behind the officer's cruiser, just as the door to the car opened. An officer stepped out – _the officer ­_– his eyes still hidden behind the aviator sunglasses.

**Remember to Review...**


	3. The House 5:56PM

**Chapter 2**

**5:56 PM**

The officer rolled and cracked his neck as he began to walk to Edward's silver Volvo. The man was cocky; Edward was able to gather that without even reading his mind. He wore a tight short sleeve shirt and tight pants. _Too_ tight in Edward's opinion. His gun and baton were visible, hanging low on his hips. The man touched his hat, adjusting it to lay low, covering his eyes; even though they were still covered with the dark glasses.

"Perfect," Bella muttered.

Edward rolled his eyes as he hit the power button to roll down the window, the cool breeze hitting Bella with a shiver. The only noise that could be heard for miles were the sounds of the early evening bugs. The officer's boots barely sounded on the blacktop.

He stopped just shy of the window, his hand on the butt of his gun, and leaned in to give Edward a once over. Edward did not even need to move his eyes as he took in the officer's badge: Morton Lawdale.

"You mind showing me your license and registration?"

Bella leaned over to the glove box in search of the registration papers. Edward moved to the center console and pulled out his wallet.

"We were just…" Edward started.

"Your license and registration. Now." _Don't start any problems, kid. I am in no mood today._

Edward handed the information over to the officer, who took his time looking through all the papers. _This kid does not look like he's nineteen, something is not right here,_ "You mind if you step out of the car?"

Bella's eyes went wide. For the first time in over a hundred years, Edward was about to be in trouble with the law.

"Why?" Edward asked, reaching for the door handle. The officer's thoughts were going back to when he was tailing them a half hour earlier.

"Why? Because I want to show you something and because I said so." _God, you Northwesterners are a pain in the ass and have no respect for authority._

Edward turned and looked at Bella who was just looking out the window at the officer, "Stay here and whatever you do, do not get out of this car."

The cop stepped back as Edward opened the car door and climbed out.

_There, pretty boy, was that so hard? _Edward just rolled his eyes as he turned to give Bella one final look before closing the car door, telling her with his eyes to stay put.

"We were just looking for a place to turn around and ask for directions," Edward explained. He knew that if push came to shove, this Officer Lawdale could be taken care of quickly.

Lawdale pulled his baton out of the holster and waved it over his shoulder, "Come here and take a look at this."

Edward followed the man to the back of his car; Lawdale tapped on one of the brake lights, "Did you know that you have a light out?"

Edward racked the guy's brain to see what he was talking about and saw the images from him tailing them. He backed off when he saw the Volvo slowing down, taking note that the third brake light was indeed out.

Edward let out a sigh, relieved that it was something so simple. "No, I didn't."

"I oughta know," the officer said with a huff, "I nearly kissed your ass, I got so close."

Edward turned his attention to the back of the car, looking through the window at Bella. She opened the door and stepped out.

"Is everything alright, Edward?" Bella asked, walking up to him as she looked back and forth between Edward and the cop.

"Yes, love," Edward watched as Bella cringed slightly at the word, "I just have a broken tail light, nothing that can't be fixed."

_My, such a pretty little lady and good God almighty, does she look good in those jeans. Those round hips and breasts..._ Edward let out a low growl and the man stopped in mid-thought.

"And who might you be, pretty lady?" Officer Lawdale asked, looking at Bella and the huge rock on her finger.

"Isabella Swan Cullen," Bella said with a tone that meant none of his business, "A Chief of Police's daughter. So if there is nothing else that needs to be discussed, we have plans and places to be."

_Temper on this one,_ "No, just needed to show you the light. Be sure to get it fixed first thing when you hit the next town."

Edward and Bella turned and walked back to the car. "Maniac," Edward muttered under his breath, hoping that Lawdale did not hear.

"You think you are being smart, boy?" Edward turned as the officer pulled out his gun. The man's mind was going a hundred miles an hour with no complete thoughts.

Lawdale turned his attention to Bella, "Miss, let me tell you who the maniac is," his eyes darted to Edward, "A maniac does not watch his speed, nor does he use his mirror. I was on your tail for five minutes before you even looked up. Use your mirrors, _Edward_." He shot the gun in the air to make a point.

Edward wrapped a protective arm around Bella, in fear that this cop would possibly shoot and then ask questions when he was done. Edward would not put it past him. Not that Edward had anything to worry about, but Bella sure did.

"Do I make myself clear?" Lawdale snarled at the two of them.

"Very," Edward said just as sternly.

"Good," the cop placed his gun back into it holster, "Now, where exactly are the two of you headed?"

"Back to Washington State," Lawdale's eyes shot up like Edward was kidding, "We decided to see the historic Route 66, but somewhere along the way, we must have made a wrong turn."

"Got a map?"

Bella bent over the open window and pulled out the tattered map and placed it on the trunk.

"This map is the old version," Lawdale folded it and threw it at Edward, taking out his own from his back pocket. "Now, listen to me and listen closely. Take the detour; it will be faster than backtracking. Trust me; a couple of city folks like you do not want to be stopping for directions from the inbreds that live in these woods. Now you will want to…"

"Inbreds?" Bella asked with curiosity.

The cop waved his hand in the air to dismiss the word that was used, "Backwoods rednecks. Believe or not we have them up here too, not just in the south. They have no understanding of the law. Evil folks is what they are."

"Now you want to go south on this road here," he pointed the black dotted line, "until it comes to a T. Turn left, that'll take you past the flats and put you back into the forest a short ways. Once you come to the T, it will be a dirt road for a good forty miles or so and then it will dump you back onto Route 66."

Edward looked at him like the cop had gone mad. Taking his expensive top of the line Volvo onto a dirt road was not what he had planned on doing. The mind of Lawdale began to wonder, making Edward question his knowledge of the road.

"You are not going to lead us on a goose chase are you, officer?" Edward asked, looking him square in the eye.

"Do I look like I would lead you city folk into the woods?"

Edward swallowed hard, trying to get the clear visions of past travelers in the mind of Lawdale, "No, sir."

Lawdale nodded, "Good. Now we are beginning to see eye to eye and have an understanding, boy. I take this road home every night, if something happens just stay in your car on the shoulder and I will find you when I get off shift."

"You say that like it has happened before," Bella said quietly and more nervous, her eyes fleeting toward the direction of the woods.

"It has."

Bella bit down on her bottom lip and looked up to Edward, "Maybe we should just backtrack."

"No need for you to worry your pretty little head. If you go now, there is still plenty of light and you will get to the highway in no time. Now hurry on your way and," he looked Edward in the eye, "be careful." The officer gave them a little nod and began to walk back toward the cruiser.

Edward opened the door of the passenger side and made sure Bella was tucked safely inside before walking at a human pace around to the driver side door. He gave Lawdale one last look before climbing in.

"I wonder what kind of people that he has pulled out of ditches on that back road?" Bella asked, looking at Edward as they made their way back onto the road.

Edward shrugged his shoulders, "He was really hard to read. His mind was always changing."

"Edward, maybe we really should just turn around. I would like to make it home at a reasonable hour."

"Bella, believe me there is nothing scarier in the woods than me. We'll be fine. No inbred will have a chance up against me and you know that."

Bella pressed her head against the cool window as Edward made the turn onto the dirt road that Lawdale had pointed out. Only forty miles, what could possibly happen in the span of an hour?

**A/N: WOW thank you for the reviews thus far, I am beyond ecstatic. The story may seem confusing but stick with it, as soon as all the character are in place it will make sense. Please remember to review :)**


	4. The House 7:46PM

**Chapter 3**

**7:46 PM**

"Edward, can you please slow down?" Bella asked as she came close to coming out of her seat after hitting another pothole.

"I am barely going thirty on this road," Edward was going way below what he thought the speed should be, his patience was beginning to wear thin. He looked up into his rearview mirror seeing nothing but the trail of dust, "We have been driving on this road for a close to an hour now. How long did he say exactly?"

Bella looked at Edward; he was never one to ask questions. In fact, he always knew the answers before questions were even asked. "I think he said forty miles after the T."

Edward looked down to the odometer, "We have gone at least sixty and still have not passed the T."

Bella crossed her arms and looked out the window. They had not passed any form of civilization the entire time they had been on this godforsaken road. The woods were getting denser by the second, the only thing other than trees they had passed had been a sign for an inn. **Wayside Inn,** it read, **Rest for the wary Soul - 3 Miles**. It was painted a cheerful yellow with pink flowers and an arrow pointing the same direction in which they had been driving all this time.

"Edward, this road was not even on the map. Should that have not been the hint to turn around?"

Edward gripped the steering wheel even tighter, "Call Esme and tell her that we are running late and that we will be home tomorrow."

Bella dug in her purse for the cell phone and turned it on, "No service way out here in the boondocks."

"Well, we will just stop at the inn that we should be passing soon and stay the night. I will need to hunt soon anyways."

Edward turned and looked at Bella who began to show signs of fright. He reached down and took her hand in his cold one, giving it a little squeeze, "We will be fine, Bella. We always are."

"We would not be in this mess if you hadn't insisted on going to Florida for one last week with Renee."

Great, here we go again, the blame game--

_What the hell?_ Edward saw it at the last second, his foot slammed on the brake, running into something metallic as it bounced underneath the floorboard. The car turned and skidded on the loose gravel. Edward's first reaction was to grab Bella and hold on to her as the car slammed into the oncoming tree. Bella's life immediately flashed in her eyes in that ten long seconds.

"You ok?" Edward asked looking at Bella, her eyes still wide in shock.

She nodded her head slowly. "Wh..What happened?"

"We hit something. Something big and hard, for it to do this sort of damage."

Edward shoved the mangled door open and pulled Bella out, carefully sitting her on the ground. He walked over to the piece of metal that had wreaked havoc on his most prized possession, next to Bella. He returned to Bella holding a huge stick wrapped in barbwire.

Bella saw the contraption in his hands, her eyes becoming as big as saucers; she opened her mouth to let out a scream, but Edward was by her side in mere seconds, covering her mouth.

"Shhh," Edward said, her head nuzzled against his chest, trying to get her to calm down. After a few minutes of him rubbing small circles on her back, Bella looked up to him, her tear streaked face smothered in dust.

"Who would do something like this?" she whispered, looking around the deep woods; nothing but trees in every direction.

A small noise came from behind them causing Bella to jump. Edward helped her up and they both looked into the woods.

"It's just a deer," Edward breathed quietly into her ear.

"It was a trap, Edward. Something like that just does not show up in the middle of a deserted road," Bella looked up at him, for the first time in week she looked like she needed him, "Do you think it was the cop? Or the inbreds?"

"No, love, I don't think it was the cop. He was not thinking of much when we were leaving; his thoughts were mostly on you."

Bella shuddered, "What are we going to do?"

Edward looked in both directions, "The sign said that the inn was just up the road. Let's just go there and we can use the phone, get you something to eat, and rest."

Bella ran a finger under Edward's eyes, the dark circles getting darker, "You need to hunt. Why don't you go ahead and go now and I will stay here at the car?"

"Bella, no! I will be fine. Right now, my first priority is you," Edward turned around and hoisted Bella up onto his back so she would not need to walk. Bella kept her head buried into Edward as he sped through the forest. His sense heightened even more so for whomever had put the trap in the middle of the road.

Edward ran through the forest for a just few minutes, taking the two of them about two miles from the car when he came to a stop in front of a sign: **Wayside Inn**. He helped Bella down from his back and looked up the long driveway to the house that sat on the hill.

Just as Bella pushed the gate open, Edward put his hand on her arm, "Wait."

Edward moved his head to one side, like he was focusing on the voices that were inside, or the lack of noise was more like it. He sniffed the air again. He recognized the scent, but it was off somehow, not the way it should have smelt. Like it was masked.

Bella looked at him, "What is it? Is it the people that put the spikes in the road?"

Edward shook his head, "No, I don't hear anything; but I do smell something familiar, just can't put my finger on it," Edward reached down and took hold of Bella's hand, "Stay close and do as I say."

The house was nothing like Bella expected, especially being out here in the middle of the woods. Even the Cullens' house was not even close to the splendor of this quaint little inn. Climbing up the stairs to the veranda front porch, she almost began to feel relief for the first time in hours. She was beyond exhausted and the dry dust that crept into her shoes began to be bothersome. More than anything, this house on the top of the hill was a welcome sight for sore eyes and the weary traveler that she was. From this vantage point, it looked like they had stepped back in time. The wonderful lady of a home was not a mansion by any means, but her imposing white walls, dormer windows, and tall, glowing lights invited thoughts of young ladies dancing in hoopskirts, while young men wearing tails and black top hats asking permission to court the same young women.

"WOW," Bella breathed out as she and Edward walked around the porch.

They turned and looked down the cobble stone walkway and saw that the miniature lamps that outlined the porch and the steps casting a warm and welcoming glow. The hedges on either side of the house were neat and precisely cornered with perfection; even in this twilight hour, the flower beds could be seen bursting with vibrant colors.

"We should have brought our bags," Bella mused as they made their way to the front door.

"Let's find a phone first and then after I know that you are settled, I will run back to the car and get our things."

There, hanging on the door, was a note: _Welcome, weary traveler. Please sign in at the front desk_.

Edward opened the door and the two of them proceeded to walk toward the front desk. There was that scent again, but it was faint. Bella captured her reflection in the gold plated mirror that hung next to a coat rack. Her windblown hair and dusty clothes were a sight to be reckoned with.

"Alice would have a field day if she saw me right now," Bella tried to put her scrunchy into a more reasonable ponytail, but there was no such luck.

As she turned, she felt moreso out of place. The room was open to high vaulted ceilings with a fancy chandelier made of crystal hanging above their heads. The hardwood floors, spotless and free of dust, led to a carpeted spiral staircase. The living room to her left supported a massive fireplace, the mantle held an assortment of flowers. Talk about feeling out of place. She took hold of Edward's hand. Even in his dirty state, he still looked like a Greek god.

"Edward, Bella," a familiar booming voice bellowed from the staircase.

Edward turned around, looking at his brother and sister. Immediately, their scent filled his nose, but their thoughts were hard to read.

"I thought I smelt someone we knew," Rose said, coming up to Bella, handing her cold towel.

"What are you two doing here?" Edward asked, confusion crossing his face while trying to read into their thoughts.

"We decided to take a different way back home and got lost," Rose explained, "All of our tires blew out a few miles back. We saw a sign for the inn and decided to come here looking for a phone."

"You too?" Bella asked, "The same thing happened to us."

"Ok, something weird is going on." Emmett said, throwing his hands in the air like he wanted nothing to do with whatever was going on here, "How can the four of us get involved in the same type of accident?"

Edward just shook his head just as they heard another voice come from outside.

"Hello?" the voice was high and pixie like.

"Alice?" Bella called out and went for the door; she threw it open to reveal Jasper and Alice walking up the steps.

Alice began to make a run for Bella and Rose when Jasper put his arm out to stop her.

"Alice, wait," Jasper said, looking at the three vampires and one human that stood at the front door, "Something isn't right."

"I have the same feeling, Jasper," Edward called out, "What is it that you feel?"

"That's just it," Jasper started, "Nothing and yet everything."

"Well, all I want to do is get out of these dirty clothes and take a shower," Alice went over to Bella and Rose, "Have any of you found the bathroom?"

"What are the two of you doing here anyways?" Emmett asked Jasper as they joined the rest of the Cullens in the entryway.

"We had to take a detour and then we ran into something on the dirt road," Jasper explained.

"Let me guess, something that was wrapped in barb wire," Emmett said.

"Yeah, how did you know?" Jasper asked them, looking back and forth between his brothers and sisters, "And you know what was weird? Alice never saw it coming."

"Well, I am having a hard time with my powers, too, and I can't help but shake the feeling that it has something to do with this house," Edward looked around at the empty home, "And what kind of Inn leaves the customers to fend for themselves anyway?"

"Rose forgot her cell phone in the car. Anyone have service?" Jasper and Bella pulled out their phones to check and just shook their heads, "Great. We couldn't find a phone in here either."

"You mean we are stuck here?" Bella asked. For the first time since the mess with Victoria a few months back, she actually looked scared.

Edward stepped closer to her and wrapped an arm around her waist, "We are not stuck here. As soon as we get settled, some of us will just run to the nearest town and get help. We'll be fine."

Everyone began to climb the stairs together to get settled in some rooms when the lights began to flicker.

"Oh no! What's happening?" Rose asked, standing behind Emmett.

The house went black. The guys pulled their mates closer to them in a protective cage. Even with the vampire's keen sense of sight, it was still hard to make out who was who.

"Great. Now it's getting fun," Bella heard Emmett say in his wonderful booming voice.

Jasper led the group back down the staircase and then walked over to one of the massive windows. It was like looking out to a bottomless pit of nothingness. "All the yard lights are out as well."

Edward reached into his pocket and pulled out a lighter as he walked over to the fireplace. Taking one of the many oil lamps from the mantel, he carefully lit it, causing it to cast an eerie glow to the room.

"Good. At least I can see now," Bella said as Edward went to rejoin her side.

"We need to find the fuse box," said Rose, the one with the mechanical thinking in the family, "Since the owners seem to not care that we are in the dark."

They all began to make a train to the kitchen. Edward heard a sound that he couldn't place. Something resonant. A high note. "Wait a minute," said Edward, listening more intently.

"What is it, Edward?" Bella asked quietly as they all halted their steps.

Edward brought his fingers to his lips, "Shh."

They all went to listen more closely, but heard nothing.

"Cool," Emmett said after a few seconds of silence, "Just like a haunted house, right? Nobody here, then the lights go out, then…OOOOO..." He wiggled his fingers in front of his face, "Creeks and groans and footsteps in the dark."

Rose roughly slapped Emmett on the arm, "Cut it out, Emmett." She turned on her heel and began to make her way to the kitchen.

"There it is again. I did hear something," Edward said, still looking up toward the staircase.

"Well, can you hear their thoughts?" Jasper asked.

Edward shook his head, "I am having a hard time just reading all of your thoughts."

From somewhere in the dark expanse of the old house, timbers groaned under their load and then went silent.

"Oh, come on, you guys. It is just the sounds that old…," Emmett began until Rose shushed him.

Somewhere in the house, the floorboards creaked again.

"Somebody's here," Bella said no more than whisper, but she knew that her family would be able to hear her.

Edward put his hand up to stop everyone from saying another word. They all became as still as statues and even stopped breathing. Except for Bella. Edward cocked his head to the side and listened.

A voice. A song. A child.

"Did you all hear that?" Emmett began to smirk, thinking that Edward was beginning to play around with them, "I'm not kidding. I hear somebody singing. Sounds like a little girl."

This time they all listened more intently. One by one, their stone faces registered fear. They heard it, too.

"So what? The owners have a kid," Rose said.

They all nudged it off. Except for Bella, who looked at Edward, clearly unnerved.

A few more seconds of quiet began to get the best of Emmett's nerves. "Okay, enough of the Halloween games," he said in a loud and commanding voice then looked at his family, "Come on, the kitchen is over here. Let's see if we can find that fuse box."

Emmett led, one of the oil lamps held high above his head. They followed. As a tight band of six, they moved into the dining room and then traveled through an archway, down a short hall, and into a massive top of the line kitchen.

"Wow," Bella said as the girls fanned out, looking at all the gadgets, "Esme would love this kitchen."

"I think that Esme would love this whole house," Alice chimed in.

The guys began to tear the kitchen apart looking for anything that might help get the lights back on. Nothing. Everyone came up empty handed.

Bella was beginning to get angry at herself for trembling and hoped that no one else would notice. She was thankful that Jasper said that his powers were off, at least that put her at a little bit of ease. Over the past year, she had learned to be brave – she had to with being part of a vampire family. But it was so dark in here, even with the flickering of the oil lamp. She and Edward were just married; they had fought side by side with newborns, and were in a car wreck that she thought was planned. And now, here she was wondering around a big, dark, empty house. Deep down, she was beginning to break. She put a hand to her forehead, _Get a grip, Bella, you have been through worse._

Bella's hand fell back and landed on a door knob. She turned it and saw that it was just a pantry. Up above her was as single light bulb. She reached up and pulled on it, the whole kitchen becoming bright. For second, she could not see.

"What are you doing in my kitchen?!"

Bella screamed.

**A/N: I am hoping that it is beginning to make sense, please remember to review!!**


	5. The House 9:46PM

**Chapter 4**

**9:46PM**

Edward heard Bella scream and was at her side in seconds; the rest of the family smashed into his back like a brick wall, then stood staring.

"Screaming like that we save for the outdoors, do you hear?" a broad-faced woman standing in the pantry, covering her ears. When Bella stopped screaming, mostly from Edward covering her mouth, the lady dropped her hands and then reached high into the pantry for a jar.

Bella pushed Edward's hand from her mouth, "I'm sorry, you just startled me."

"Well," the woman stood waiting for the waiting vampires to move out of the doorway, "It works both ways. I almost thought you were _him_."

The Cullens stared at each other. Edward was trying to focus on reading the woman's thoughts, but it was a complete void; much like trying to get into Bella's head.

"Who?" Edward asked, his eyes never leaving her as she walked around the kitchen.

The woman of the house continued to do her kitchen duties, not giving any mind to the guests that were standing in the door.

"Look, we just need a phone. We had some car trouble," Jasper said, trying to send a wave of calm through the room, but it felt like it was just bouncing back to him.

"Don't have a phone."

Bella bit her lower lip and then walked over to the lady who appeared to be washing dishes. She placed her hand gently on the woman's shoulder, "I'm Bella, what's your name?"

She turned and looked into Bella's warm and inviting brown eyes, "Betty."

Bella extended her hand and the woman took it carefully, "Nice to meet you, Betty. We could really use some help. See we - my family and I - we all were in an accident…."

"Someone put spikes in the road and slashed our tires," Rose piped in, Bella turned and glared at her.

"_He _did it," Betty said with a straight face, "Now can one of you please run along and grab the chairs out of the hall closet? I will need to set more places for dinner."

No one made an attempt to move.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but we don't eat, so we will not be staying for dinner. I am, however, interested in our cars. Who did?" Edward said, taking the lead.

Betty turned around, holding up what appeared to be a pitcher of tea, "What some tea dear?" Looking straight at Bella, "I will get you some ice."

"Uh, no that's okay," but Betty was already gone and back within seconds with a bucket of ice.

Betty grinned her gap-toothed grin at Bella. "Don't tell me you don't like ice." She lifted a cube from the bucket and shoveled it under Bella's nose. "You think about it all the time, don't you?"

Bella's eyes moved in confusion. She could see her family beginning to circle around her, ready to make a jump to save her. Bella began to shrink back from the ice.

"No, please, I don't want any ice."

Edward went to Bella's side and pulled her close to him.

"It's been fun, but I think we will just get on our way," Edward made a turn on his heel, his brothers and sisters following.

"You can't rescue that one, boy," Betty called after them, "Nope, she doesn't want to be rescued."

Bella broke from Edward's grasp and ran back to the living room, Edward beating her there. Bella put on her brave face, smiling through her tears.

"Isn't this the strangest place you've ever been? It's just so…so…" Bella tried to laugh it off, but it quickly became a cry. Edward reached out and pulled her close to him, "I can't stay here, Edward."

"She's right, Edward," Jasper spoke up, his arm around Alice, "We can't stay here. We need to go now."

"Let's just think this through first," Edward pulled away from Bella, but still kept her close.

"Think what through, man?" Emmett walked over to the window and looked out, "We are vampires. We can just leave."

"Reality," Edward started, "We are stuck here in the middle of the woods, we have no idea where 'here' even is. Plus, in case you all haven't noticed, all of our senses are gone, or are at least not as strong. Alice, when was the last time you had a vision?"

Alice looked at her 'older' brother as realization set in,"Not since we turned onto the dirt road."

Edward just nodded, "There is something strange going on. Betty was a blank to me, it was worse than trying to read Bella's mind."

"When I tried to calm her down, it was like hitting brick wall," Jasper said, "but did you all notice that there was something else?"

Everyone turned to look at Jasper, trying to figure out what he had seen that they hadn't, but they all drew a blank.

"Her scent, or lack thereof; then her heartbeat was also faint. It is almost like she is on the verge of death."

Bella peered over Edward's shoulder, and her eyes filled with dismay.

Edward followed her gaze, along with the rest of the family.

Betty looked hurt as she closed the distance between them, "Always running. Why is it that you are running?"

Emmett stepped forward to block her path holding his hand up in fair warning, "Keep your distance, please."

Bella bolted for the front door, flung it open, and dashed out onto the veranda. Edward was right there with her.

She pulled herself to a stop at the top of the stairs, her hands went to her mouth and halted.

"Bella, just take it easy. You…."

Bella was trembling. She took a step back toward the house. Then another. She was peering down the flagstone walkway.

Edward approached and reached out for the small of her back - and then he saw it, too.

Halfway between the house and the gate loomed an immense shape of a man, a shadowy silhouette veiled by a light rain. A duster draped the body to mid-calf, and the face was obscured by the shadow of a wide-brimmed, drooping hat. The man held a shotgun, the barrel glinting in the lights lining the path.

Behind them, Betty sucked in a rasping breath and hissed, "Get inside! Now!"

Bella and Edward lingered for a bit, unsure. Edward tried to focus on the man; his thoughts were erratic, unclear, but death was one word that he was focused on.

She lunged and took hold of them. "Get inside! It's _him!_"

The figure that loomed in the rain started walking their way, the duster billowing, the boot heels clacking on the stones. The barrel of the shotgun suddenly swung forward. Edward picked Bella up and ran back inside, slamming the door behind him and making sure it was locked tight. He began to wonder if it was safer inside or out, but right now, being inside with a strange lady had to be better than being outside with a guy who had a shotgun.

Emmett rushed to the door, "What is it? What is going on?"

"Get away from the door," Betty hissed again, flicking off the foyer lights.

"What are you doing?" Jasper asked.

"You don't want _him _to see you," she explained.

They all fell silent and motionless as they heard the sharp, staccato clicks of heavy boots on the veranda. A shadow rose upon the door's stained glass window, a bulking shape topped by a broad-brimmed hat.

The barrel of the shotgun came up against the glass. _Tap. Tap. Tap._

Edward pushed Bella up against the wall, arms extended out to protect her. She could not help but sense the same feeling that she had in Italy; Edward standing the same way now as then. They all just watched.

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

"Who is it?" Alice whispered out, her head peering from behind Jasper's back.

Rose made an attempt to walk toward the door when Edward and Emmett both grabbed her wrists.

"Come on, guys. This is stupid. Maybe he's a cop or something," Rose said, trying to shake their grip.

"Rose that is not a cop. Remember the spikes in the road?" Everyone just nodded, "I don't think he's from AAA."

"Then it was a trap. He knows that we are in here," Bella started, "What the hell are we going to do now?"

Jasper looked around, sensing someone was missing. Betty had disappeared from view, but he could see the lights being turned off in various rooms.

Emmett called out toward the door, "Who are you?"

The lock began to creak and jiggle.

Edward could feel Bella shake and tremble next to him.

"Not a chance, pal," Emmett said as the door knob shook even more, "The doors are locked and you are outnumbered. And believe me, mister; we have dealt with worse than a crazy guy with a gun."

Everyone had their mates close by, ready to fight or protect, whichever came first.

There was a_ clank_ like a dead bolt sliding home, locking them in even more so.

The shadow loomed by the door for a moment then retreated from the glass. The boot heels clicked across the deck, down the steps and dropped to the flagstone walkway. Eventually, all was quiet.

There was an audible sigh of relief, but Edward did not feel safe yet, Bella was still trembling next to him. He turned his attention to Betty, glaring. With his voice dripping with venom, he asked her, "Who was that?"

"It was him," Betty said matter of factly.

"Who's _him_?" Emmett demanded.

"The devil himself," Betty hissed.

Rose went over to stand closer to Emmett, "Betty, it's all right. Just tell us who he really is and what he wants. Believe me, we have seen a lot of bad guys in our lifetimes."

Betty crossed her arms, "You'd better start prayin' is all I can say."

Emmett huffed and then walked over to the door to check the lock. The knob broke off in his hand.

"He did something to the door." Emmett stuck his fingers through the hole that used to be the door knob and jiggled the latch. The door held fast. Emmett began to bang on the door, throwing all of his weight and strength into it, but it would not budge. He turned to look at his brothers. Edward and Jasper came up to Emmett and all three of them ran hard against the door. It would not open.

"Edward, you have got to get us out of here," Bella cried out, fear was evident in her eyes. Alice and Rose wrapped their arms around her, trying to keep her calm.

The guys all lifted their eyes and said at once, "The back door."

They went flying through the house, through the darkened rooms. They could hear the lock creaking as they went into the kitchen. Emmett slammed all his weight at the door. Nothing. Both of his brothers grabbed hold of the handle, but whatever force was behind the door was stronger than the three vampires.

Through the small pane of glass, Edward saw the drooping hat and, just under the brim, where a face should be, a plate of steel with ice-cold eyes watching him through two jagged holes.

There was the same _clank_ as a dead bolt locked shut.

The handle broke off and fell into Emmett's hand.

Emmett brought his hand up and flung it at the window, but it was as solid as steel, not even making a dent. They looked beyond and saw the man walking across the back porch, the shotgun over his shoulder.

The lights in the kitchen flickered and for the second time that night, left them all standing in complete darkness.

Edward stood still, trying to get into that guy's mind. _What was his plan? What would he do next? How could they get out of this house?_

His head perked up as he could see Bella and his sisters walking their way through the darkened kitchen. He wrapped Bella in his arms; the tears now flowing freely down her face.

"Did you all see his face?" Rose asked, walking over to Emmett.

Edward just shook his head, "He was wearing a mask."

Bella sank from Edward's arms and slid to the floor, sobbing out of frustration and fear.

Jasper pushed himself off the door and walked over to Betty who was standing under the archway. "You are going to tell us everything. Who is that guy?"

"I think he is here to kill us." Betty said.

The five vampires and one human had stunned expressions on his face.

"He can't kill us." Jasper said.

Betty huffed as she walked back toward the living room and grabbed a book of newspaper clippings. She brought an oil lamp up on the table and casted the shadow of light. She pointed to the top of the headline, "You want to know who he is?"

**Couple Found Dead**

Bella crowded down on the floor and began to skim the article "…man and wife, found dead in abandoned house…possible suicide, but authorities have not ruled out homicide…similarities to other deaths…dead almost two weeks before they were found…"

"Oh my God," Bella breathed out.

"Seems like it's been going on a long time," Betty whispered. "People going into abandoned houses and never coming out. By the time the police find them, they been dead so long it is hard to tell how they died. But I know it was _him."_

"Who is he?" Emmett asked after reading the full article.

"The cops are still trying to find out. We call him 'White' after the first family that he took down. He's been busy around these parts. I was wondering when he was going to come here."

"Well, at least we don't have to worry about someone trying to kill us. We will fight him to the death. It is five vampires against one crazed man," Emmett said, turning his attention to Jasper, "What do you think Jasper? What game plan should we come up with?"

They all looked up as they heard the heavy boots on the roof.

"He is still out there," Alice chirped.

Then came a sound: a weird, tin-like rattling; like a soda can falling down a narrow well, careening, pinging, and clinking off the sides. It was close. Edward looked over to the fireplace just as something landed in the pile of ashes.

Edward picked up the lamp and walked over to the fireplace, reaching his hand down but Bella put her hand on his arm, "please, Edward, don't touch it."

Edward looked down into his wife's eyes. He would get her out of this hell hole and if whatever had just come down the chimney would help, then he would get it.

"I don't think he wants in," Betty said, coming up to look closer.

Edward reached down and picked up the can.

It was an old soda can, the label faded and half-gone, the print now obscured by a bold message scrawled in black marker. Edward walked back to his family, his face masking any hint of what it said.

Bella walked behind him, "Edward, what is it? You're beginning to scare me."

Edward took an unnecessary breath before he began to read.

"_Welcome to my house._

_House Rules:_

_1: God came to my house and I killed him._

_2: I will kill anyone who comes to my house as I killed God._

_3: Give me one dead body and I might let rule two slide._

_Game over at dawn."_

Edward passed the can over to his brothers who read the message themselves. Alice, Rose and Bella were huddled together, fear evident on their faces. Not because Alice and Rose could die, but because the only person that could be sacrificed was Bella. Edward turned his attention Betty and cocked his head to the side. _Very easy prey._

Above them, the sound of the same heavy boots crossed the roof, descended off the back and then stepped off.

Silence.


	6. The House 10:27PM

**Chapter 5**

**10:27 PM**

Bella was the last one to hold the can and read the inscriptions, moving it back and forth, reading and rereading. Edward could hear her quick breaths. "Does he mean….?"

"It means, he is one sick character," Emmett said, scanning the room like a sentry.

"Edward, Jasper, you two should know the best about how this stuff works. It's all psychological. He's playing a mind game." Rose looked back and forth to her two brothers who had both been to college and studied psychology, "Right?"

Edward and Jasper just looked at each other. For the first time in their vampire lives, they might be up against something that could not be fought.

"Except it was not a game for the dead people," Jasper nodded toward the newspaper clippings.

Rose looked to all of her siblings, her eyes lastly coming to rest on Bella, who was sitting on the floor curled up. "It's impossible. He can't expect us to kill each other."

"Not each other, Rose," Emmett said, pulling her close to him, "Just one."

Edward looked at Rose, she was right; there was no way that they could kill each other. They were family. "I think he just wants to divide us, get us at each other's throats."

For the first time since the can had been thrown down the fireplace, Betty cackled.

"Something funny?" Emmett growled.

"That'll be easy enough," she said.

Emmett leaned toward her, already ready to make her the victim. "You're speaking for yourself, of course?"

Betty smiled, wickedly, "We'll find out, won't we?"

Emmett rubbed his hand over his face, "What _is _it with you?"

Edward stepped in between his brother and the woman that was getting on all their nerves. "Come on. We don't have to play his game. We can choose."

Alice brought her hand up to check the time on her watch, "It's ten-thirty. Dawn's at six. That gives us seven and a half hours."

"Six seventeen to be exact," Jasper inputted.

Emmett snorted. "I won't need that long. I am ending this now."

Betty sat down getting comfortable in one of the chairs, mildly interested, her eyes resting on the three brothers; who ran with all of their speed and strength right for the wood front door. They bounced off of it like a rubber ball. Sending them sailing in the air and landing on their bottoms.

Bella just stood up and walked over to one of the windows in a haze, clutching herself in fear. Her eyes were on the headlights sweeping around the front --

With a lurch, a rattle, and the growl of a half-muffled engine; the headlights lumbered over a flower bed, through a hedge and onto the flagstone walk. Edward walked over to look out the window with Bella. From the fenders and the roundish cab stark against the stone wall, he realized it was an old pickup truck. It turned toward the house, disappearing behind the blinding headlights. By now his entire family was looking at the truck. Bella put her hands up to block the brightness.

Edward just stood there, watching, listening, and trying to read his mind. _Give me one dead body, _was all he was thinking, over and over.

The driver of the old heap opened the throttle. The vehicle lurched forward, accelerating up the flagstone walk. Headed right for the window at which they were all standing.

"Look out! Look out!"

Everyone scattered, moving faster than lightening. Edward picked Bella up and moved her out of the way, fleeing for the dining room. The headlights were burning against his back, the frantic shadow of Bella and him running in front of them.

The engine's roar, the smashing and splintering of lumber, the screech of metal, the shattering of glass, the crunching of wallboard, trims and fixtures, all melded into one bone-jarring, earsplitting _crash_ as the truck climbed up the steps, leaped the veranda and punched its way through the front wall of the house. Edward could hear the screams of his brothers and sisters as the different pieces of material flooded the room. He threw Bella to the floor and lay on top of her, to protect her as the shards of glass and wood mixed with plaster feel on top of them.

The skewed lights from the truck flickered and then died, leaving the house in total darkness.

"Rose, Alice, guys," Edward yelled.

He pulled himself up to his feet and reached down to help Bella up. Bella was wiping the debris off of herself, visibly shaking, then turned, looking for the rest of her family. She did not have to look for long as four hungry vampires stood right in front of her, their eyes turning darker.

Edward looked down at Bella, "You're bleeding."

Bella put her hand to her head and felt the warm liquid pooling around her fingers, the smell going straight for her head. Edward ripped a piece of his shirt and handed it to her.

"I'm all right," she kept insisting as Edward tried to keep pressure on the wound, "It's just a scratch."

Bella made her way to the couch with Rose and Alice, while the guys went to dig their way through the debris. They stood where the window and front door used to be - no frames, no door, no window, no lintel. Shards of glass, splintered molding, broken pottery, and dashed houseplants lay everywhere; puzzle pieces of wallboard dangled from shreds of wallpaper. In place of the door was the battered, crumpled nose of the old truck, its windshield cracked like a collage of spider webs, the roof collapsed, the fenders folded back, the headlights broken. Steam hissed from the radiator as water trickled onto the hardwood floors.

For several long seconds, the three brothers just stood there in the gritty air with the taste of dust in their mouths and the pricking particles of glass through their skin – staring, disbelieving, and then realizing that the front wall had sagged and closed around the hulk of the truck, sealing off the exit even moreso.

Edward could read into the silence, without having to even get into everyone's minds. There was no way out. The house had locked them in. The game had not ended. If anything, it was just beginning.

"Oh, great," Betty stood up behind the Cullen boys, her hands pressed into her hips, "Now you've done it."

"We did not do anything, it is this crazy jackass that is out there playing these games," Emmett stood to his full height, venom lacing his words.

Betty moved her head toward the truck, "I know all about this killer, more than you will ever know, so I know it's you that have bought me the trouble. You brought him into my home like a dog bringing in fleas."

"Fine, we will be happy to leave and pay for the damages," Edward said, beginning to walk over to his wife and sisters, "Just let us go and--"

"_Go?"_ Betty snorted, "You think he's gonna let anyone out of here? You ain't goin' anywhere 'til Mr. White gets what he wants."

"But don't you see," Jasper stepped in, trying to use his power to defuse the situation, "This _is_ what he wants, to have all of barking at each other; to harm each other. But we got news for you, old lady. We are already dead. You can't kill what has already been killed."

"So what is wrong with trying?"

"Betty, we don't kill," Jasper said, his voice stern, "Are you that stupid to think that we would kill someone?"

That got her attention. Her icy glare clipped her sentences like a pair scissors. "What do you want me to say, smart boy? That life is just a big joke?"

"We know better than anyone that life is not a joke," Rose spoke up for the first time in a while, "We did not get to choose who or what we are, but I will not get involved in a game in which I will be asked to hunt down and kill a human being."

Betty took a step back, "I have myself to think about. If anyone should die tonight it should be her?" Betty pointed to the direction of Bella. "After all, she is the one that is struggling. Ain't she, Edward?"

Edward let out a loud growl as the woman walked toward the back of the house. She turned one last time.

"I will give you one fair warning. Whatever you do, don't go down to the basement. Never go down to the basement."

Edward watched as Betty walked out of the living room, leaving his family. He tried to get into her mind but it was a void, nothing. He was not able to tell if there was a bluff.

"I think we should go down to the basement," Alice said her arms still wrapped around Bella, "There might be a way out."

"No!" Jasper hollered, making Alice flinch back, "You heard her; we are not to go down there."

Edward began to pace back and forth, something did not add up. The situation was like a game of chess, and they were the pawns. The crazed man wanted one dead body. Edward looked over to where Betty had disappeared down the hall.

"I say we kill her," Emmett said, "It will be easy and then we can just walk out of here."

Edward just shook his head, "She's not real."

"What?" everyone in the room froze, their eyes on Edward.

"The scent. It is like a dead, rotting body. I think she is a piece to the game. She is here to provoke us."

Jasper thought about this for a second, "I think you're right. You send someone over to enemy lines, think they are to befriend you and help. Only to find out that they are actually your enemy. Basic military strategy."

"I think we need to go down to the basement," Rose went to stand up and go to her mate, "Obviously we are not getting out of here. Might as well find another way."

Bella picked up the can and read the words that had been bouncing around in her head, _God came into my house and I killed Him_.

"This is not just a mental game," Bella's voice barely came out as a whisper, "It's a game of good versus evil. He wants a soul."

The family that she had come to love and trust stood and looked at her. Bella took a deep breath, "I am the only one that can give him a soul. It has to be me and then you all can just walk out of here."

Edward came up to her and pulled her into a tight embrace. "You will not even be the last person to lose her soul. I will see to it or die trying."

"So are we in agreement?" Emmett asked, "do we take our chances and go to the basement?"

Edward looked at his family, then resting his eyes on Bella, "Yes."

Bella tilted her head; she knew that this was a bad idea. She was willing to sacrifice herself, right now. "No, Edward. Don't. This isn't right. Just kill me now."

If Edward could cry, he would have. He lifted Bella's face to look more deeply in her chocolate eyes. "Bella, no one will die tonight. We are all too strong."

"Are you?" Bella was on the verge of freaking out. Jasper all of a sudden felt her emotions hitting him. "All of you are getting weaker. I am not sure if it is from not hunting or if it is this house. You should have been able to break through that door. Not feel the glass slicing your arms. Don't you see it? This house is killing you."

"Bella, you know the only way for us to die is," Alice said quietly.

Everyone made a turn for the basement door.

"Wait!" Bella called out. "Alice focus. We go to the basement; what do you see?"

Alice's eyes glazed over, her face twisted, trying to concentrate, "I think I see light." She shook her head, "But it is distant. I see Edward having to make a choice."

"What kind of choice?" Edward asked, trying to get into Alice's head, but was blinded by the light that was blocking her visions.

"I don't know. You haven't made a decision because it hasn't happened."

"Then we go to the basement." Edward said with finality in his voice.

Emmett and Rose led the way out of the living room, the dim light of the candles burning and marking their way through the hallways. Edward and Bella were the last to leave. There was a collective feeling that something bad was down in the basement; but Alice had seen a light. Light couldn't be bad. Right?

**Thank you all for the reviews, this story is not a romance by no means, but as this last chapter explained, it is a story of Good vs. Evil. Stick with it and I promise you, I will deliever a story like no other. Who you think is good may turn out bad and vice versa. Thank you to my Beta - FaithInSnape for helping me out. Keep reviewing...**


	7. The House 10:55PM

**Chapter 6**

**10:55 PM**

Barsidious White stood at the top of the brick stairwell that led into the basement, arms crossed, waiting. Waiting…just waiting. So much of life is spent waiting. All good things came to those who waited, as the saying went.

White lifted his face to the pouring rain and focused on it as it pelted his skin. Lightning flashed. This storm was the kind that brought flash floods. Good thing to know on a night like this.

He knew a few things that none of those inside knew, naturally. More than a few things. The game was being so perfectly executed that he wondered if his luck would run out before he had a chance to introduce the real stakes.

Or show his true power, for that matter.

If all good things came to those who waited and he was waiting for evil to work its magic, did that make evil good? Or if he were waiting for the hour in which the killing would start, did that make murder good?

Killing one person made you a murderer. Killing millions made you a king. Killing them all makes you God.

In the end, he would be God. Because the game being played behind these dirty walls wasn't unlike the game all people played everywhere, every day, every last dirty one of them.

In the end, they all killed, they all died, they all would go to hell.

But in this house, they would play his game, which boasted enough drama and delight to bring a smile to the blackest of souls. That is, assuming he would win. Assuming? He shook that thought right out of his head. He was born to win, born to rip their filthy heads right off their necks in a way that made it all at least interesting.

White took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He had been waiting weeks to play this game; each second now delivered enough reward to justify it all.

He unfolded his arms and took a step up onto the edge of the stairwell. If he was right, if he'd judged correctly, the players would soon be in the basement and the real game could begin.

White sighed as he waited. Of course, the real game was already in full force, but they didn't know or understand this. By dawn, he'd bring everything into focus.

The idea of driving the truck through the front of the house was a nice touch. It put the fear of God into their hearts. And that would be him because, as he just established, he was God.

"Welcome to my house, Edward." He let out an amused grunt.

White descended the stairs. Packed leaves and dirt had long ago covered the concrete, raising the landing several inches so that when the door opened, decaying leaves tended to spill into the basement. But there was more than a little decay waiting to enter the world tonight.

He put his hand on the keyless door latch and pressed down. Locked. As it should be. He would wait.

White walked back up into the night. He turned as he heard the sounds of boulders and wood splitting. A loud crash. Pounding feet.

White's right hand began to quiver. He made no attempt to stop it. Deep in the backwoods off this deserted dirt road; a road not even on the map, where no one was watching and the darkness had swallowed all light. He was allowed to enjoy life a little, wasn't he?

The Cullens made their way toward the last door that had not been opened yet. Emmett put his hand on the knob and gave it a small turn. Before doing anything more, he looked over to his family and took hold of Rose's hand.

"Whatever you do, Rose, do not let go of my hand." Rose just nodded. Emmett pushed the door open with very little effort and was the first to lead the group down the dark stairwell. Jasper and Alice followed behind them.

Edward turned his attention to Bella, who was quivering with fear. He had never seen her like this. He took a step toward her and held out his hand. She just shook her head. She knew this was wrong. She could feel it.

"Bella, love, it will be fine. I will not let anything happen to you," Edward took a step toward her. As soon as he did so, the door to the basement slammed shut behind him. Bella's eyes became even wider as she realized that their family was now down there in the dark.

Edward banged on the door, yelling to his family to open the door. His demands were met only with echoes. Nothing. Complete silence, other than Bella's small gasps and whimpering. Edward went over to her and wrapped his granite arms around her, pulling her close. The game, he realized, was in full swing. The family becoming separated was a part of it. It had to be.

"I want to go home," Bella cried into his shirt. He did the only thing he could think of and hummed her lullaby. He didn't know how long he had been standing there comforting his wife, but it felt good to have her need him again.

His head jerked up when he heard it again. The same noise he had heard earlier; humming or singing. He looked over his shoulder to the basement door. His eyes scrunched together, trying to focus. Then the door that had been locked and would not budge a few minutes ago suddenly opened up on its own accord. He took hold of Bella's hand and began to descend the dark stairwell.

Edward reached into his jeans and pulled out his lighter. It was dark, darker than any normal basement should be. He flicked it and a small flame danced across the stairwell. Bella brought her shirt up and over her nose. A repulsive odor – rotten eggs or sulfur – filled both of their noses. Edward automatically stopped breathing.

"It stinks," Bella said through her shirt.

Edward held hard to Bella's hand as they continued to climb down. He really did not have a clue what he would find down here and the only thing he was concerned with right now was the welfare of his brothers and sisters.

"Emmett, Rose?" he called out. He perked his ears up, but heard nothing. "Jasper, Alice!"

"What are doing?" Bella hissed into Edward's ear. "They'll hear you."

Edward looked at her for a moment. "I want them to hear me, remember?"

He continued down the steps, the smell getting stronger.

"What is this place?" Bella asked as she planted her foot into the sloshing sound of water.

"It's the basement."

Bella crinkled her nose, "Looks more like a...sewer."

The two of them followed the hallway and then stopped, now faced with an unexpected dilemma. Doors. The thought of opening one of the doors, any one of them, struck Edward as foolish. He let go of Bella's hand while her eyes grazed over each door. Edward hurried to the first one on his right. Put his hand on the rusted handle. He hesitated.

_Crack._

The sound resonated off the walls. Edward looked up and could hear heavy feet on the hardwood floors. Even in the heavily scented basement, he was still able to make out the scent of Betty. He already knew to not trust Betty. Edward pulled Bella closer and then swung the door open.

The room that opened up to them was dimly lit by a bare low-wattage bulb. Edward tugged the lighter back into his pocket. There appeared to be no immediate threat as he let go of Bella and began to wander around the room.

Bella stood at the entryway, her mouth gaping open. Four burgundy sofas: two quite new, two very old with torn upholstery. Lots of throw pillows. A black and white woven rug covered most of the concrete floor. Paintings, at least a dozen of them, hung on the brick walls. It almost looked homey in an eccentric sort of way. A strange blend of the old and the new, grungy and the clean.

Bella walked across the room to the old potbellied stove, shined clean as if it had never been used. A thick cobweb was spread across the top smoothed with mummified bugs. Bella's eyes furrowed together in confusion. Why clean the stove and leave the webs?

Other interesting pieces of furniture were set about – a loom, a coat rack, an antique rocker…a rusted washing machine?

The room added a whole new dimension to Edward's understanding of Betty. The problem was that the dimension wasn't all that clear.

And that was when Edward saw it. It cleared things up a bit. Bella walked over to him and followed his gaze. Her hand went for his arm and gripped him. There was a pentagram painted in red on the wall to his left. A threat scrawled in black ran through it. _The wages of sin is death._

Below the pentagram sat a sofa table, and on that table stood a ring of black candles. Looked like Betty or whoever owned the house was a religious lot.

Somewhere deep in the house, a door slammed.

Bella jumped slightly, "What was that?"

Edward did not let his eyes deviate from the scripture that was on the wall. His mind raced back to his days of defiance against Carlisle. Was this sick game his entire fault?

"Come on, let's check all the doors." Edward went to the door that was next to the pentagram. Nothing but a small closet.

"Um, Edward?"

When Edward turned back, he saw that the door Bella had opened led into yet another room.

"What is it?" He asked as he closed the distance between the two of them in seconds.

"Another room."

"I can see that. What…."

He poked his head into the room. Gray concrete on all sides looked back at him. Heavy cobwebs hung on the walls and the ceiling. A single writing desk sat in the middle of the room. No other furniture. In a strange way, it looked like a study. If you looked at it long enough.

Edward took a heavy step inside. Long red drapes framed a huge mirror on the far left wall. He stopped when he saw it, causing Bella to hit him square in the back. Another pentagram with the same words appeared on the opposite wall. _The wages of sin is death. _

That was all there was in the room: a desk, a mirror, and graffiti. And three more doors, one of which looked like it led back out to the main hall. The other two stood straight ahead in the opposite wall. He knew that the chances were those other two doors would lead them deeper into the basement.

"This isn't good, Edward." Bella's voice barely a whisper, "I don't like this, maybe we should go just go back."

"God, what kind of place is this…?" For the first time in over a hundred years, he felt like he was beginning to break down. He took a deep breath; he needed to stay calm, for Bella and his family.

Bella reached for the knob of the closest door, but stopped short of opening it. She was staring at the mirror. Edward could not figure out what was so intriguing about a mirror.

"Bella, snap out of it," he went and waved his hand in front of her face, but it was like she was frozen in shock. "Come on, Bella. Let's check out these other rooms."

Edward moved away from her to open another door and bolted into the darkness. Dripping water was the only sound. It smelled musty, almost sweet next to the rotten eggs. He looked back at Bella and was more confused by how she was just blinking and rubbing her eyes, then waving her hand in front of it.

"Bella, come on."

"I don't…Something's wrong with this mirror."

"Now is not the time to worry about how you look." He was becoming aggravated and his patience was starting to wear thin.

"I…I don't have reflection."

Edward rolled his eyes at how ridiculous that sounded, then released the door and crossed the room to where Bella was still waving her hands in front of herself.

He stood next to her and looked into the mirror. She was right, no reflections.

Correction: no reflections of _them_. Edward turned and looked at what was behind them and then back to the mirror. The desk, the doors, the far wall was all in clear view. But there was no sign of Edward or Bella.

Bella reached down for Edward's hand, "I think we should go and _now."_

"It has to be some kind of trick mirror or something," Edward said, but even he did not seem so sure, "maybe Betty was part of the circus."

"It is not a trick mirror. What if we don't exist down here? Or maybe you're wrong. Maybe vampires really don't have reflections."

Edward looked at his wife and thought that she was beginning to lose it. "Love, I am a vampire, you're not. So if that were true, then what about your own reflection?"

Bella stood frozen in her spot, still looking at the mirror. Realization hit her then and panic set in. "We're going to die down here, Edward. All of us. We're all going to die."

"No we are not. But we do need to keep moving. The others are looking for us."

Edward and Bella ran to the door that he had opened a few minutes earlier. It was wet and cool as Bella rubbed the wall for a light switch, coming up empty handed. Edward reached into the air, grasping hold of another naked light bulb. When the light came on and casted its glow, Edward actually felt comfortable. This was the kind of room that should be down in the basement. Wet, mildewed walls lined with wooden racks. And two more doors.

Bella looked at her husband and he answered her unasked question. "Root cellar."

"Well, where's the hallway?"

Edward nodded to one of the doors, "Must be that one."

The fact of the matter was, based on what Edward had seen thus far, this basement was not your average basement. Edward crossed to the other side and opened the door. As expected, the main hall. He released the handle with a small measure of satisfaction.

Bella hurried past him, ready to get out of this maze they were in.

"Let's try the other door." Edward went to open the next one but halted when he heard the sound of boots running over head.

"He's already coming for us," Bella said quietly, but Edward put his hand up to her mouth and covered anymore sound. He tilted his head and listened.

The faint sound of humming came again, as it had upstairs.

Edward whirled around so fast; Bella was caught off guard and almost sank to the floor. He caught her just in time. "Did you hear that?"

"The singing…" Bella stated.

Edward decided that he could not risk Bella's life. Whose ever boots they were that were running above their heads, he knew for a fact did not belong to his brothers or sisters. Edward grabbed Bella's hand and pulled her back into the root cellar; closing the door behind them.

"Edward, where are we going?" Bella hissed. She really did not want to go back in that dank place.

"Anywhere but the hallway. Keep your voice down, too."

They rushed through the cellar, ignoring a door on their left. _Wait; was that door there a little bit ago?_ Eh, Edward did not want to worry about it anymore. They continued back into the study, past the freaky mirror.

"Where are we going?" Bella asked again.

Edward pulled to a stop, "Did we leave the first door open?"

Bella's eyes went wide as she realized that she did in fact leave the door open in the first room, "He's going to know that we are down here."

The humming sounded again; from their right, very faint. Then silence.

Edward flew to one of the doors in the main hall that they had not yet tried. He heard the footprints getting louder on the staircase now.

"Don't say that I did not warn you," Betty's voice rang out through the hallway, "Not the basement, I said; but no, you never listen. Don't come back to me and say I never warned you."

Edward grabbed the door handle and pulled, only opening a fraction. Then the door pulled from his hand and slammed shut, as if it were vacuum sealed.

"Bella, go try the other door."

Bella ran to the next door, "It's locked."

Edward tried harder and this time, it opened just enough to see that it was pitch black and he could hear the sucking noise that filled the room.

He ignored the voice in his head that was telling him to not go through and pulled harder.

The door gaped open. Where could such a strong current of air be coming from?

It became very clear to Edward that no matter how bad the threat was upstairs, they could not, should not enter this next room. Edward released the handle like it was a hot skillet. Bella came up behind him and looked beyond the door.

"I don't like it."

The sucking sound ceased, but the door did not close all the way this time. It was as if it wanted them to enter.

Beyond it, total silence. Almost too quiet.

"Go, Edward."

Something was wrong, Edward could feel it.

He reached out to touch the handle of the door, but the door flew fully open of its own accord. For a second, Edward just stared at the wide open space in front of him. Pitch black. For the first time he was completely blind.

He could feel his body being pulled into the doorway before he could become aware of any draft, any suction, and any force that was pulling him in. He reached out and took hold of Bella, determined to not be separated from her.

It was quick and silent; like a magnetic force. One second he was staring into the darkness; the next, he was flying into it.

_Smack!_ With bone crushing force he flew right into the brick wall that was only a few feet from the doorway.

_Boom!_ The door slammed shut behind him as he stood up. He looked into the darkness, nothing.

"_Bella!"_ Edward screamed out with all the air that was in him. The force of the current had been too strong for him to hold them together.


	8. The House 11:03PM

**Chapter 7**

**11:03 PM**

Isabella Cullen stared at the door that had slammed shut in her face, cutting her off from Edward, frozen by indecision. She wasn't sure which was worse: following Edward into the blackness or making a run for it alone. She wrapped her arms around herself, her heart feeling like it was going to rip apart at any moment. She looked around her surroundings and for the first time since Edward left her nearly a year ago almost to the day, she panicked. She reached down to put her hand on the doorknob and went to turn it, but it was locked.

"Edward!" Bella started pounding on the door but all she got in response were the echoes from beyond.

"You promised me, Edward," her tears flowing freely down her face as she sank against the door. She pulled her knees up to her chest and began to hum the lullaby that she knew by heart, rocking herself, trying to hold it together.

Something was wrong; she had known it the second she heard the can come flying down the chimney. It was this house. She had never in her life been more afraid. Her mind drifted back to the mountaintop as she watched Edward and Seth fight singlehandedly to tear apart Victoria and her sidekick. She had felt helpless then and she felt the same now. She remembered reaching down for the sharp stone, ready to sacrifice herself. And now, here she was in the same predicament, but there was nothing around that she could use.

_One dead body_ is what the can asked for, but would suicide suffice? This was a game where the killer wanted them to kill or hurt each other. That much she knew for sure. But the family was too connected, too involved. There was no way they would turn against each other. Or was there?

Bella snapped her head up when she heard the pounding of heavy boots and the clacking of heels. It sounded so close. She stood up and checked the door that Edward had just gone in and it was still locked. Bella already knew the other door was locked as well. She ran back into the room that had the strange mirror, the only hiding place was to wrap up inside the drapes that hung around it. She pressed her back against the wall and willed her muscles to relax and steady her heavy breathing.

"Don't you dare say I did not warn you, you filthy atheists!" Bella sucked in her breath even more as she heard Betty yell out.

For a moment, the footsteps stopped. They were in the doorway. Bella held her breath. For a moment, the room was completely silent.

"Where are you?" a man's gruff voice yelled out. One that Bella did not recognize. "Shut the door, Betty."

Bella could hear all the doors shut and then the heavy sound of a lock engaging.

"Stewart, do you think they made it to the tunnel?" Betty asked.

_Stewart?_ Bella thought to herself. _Who is Stewart?_

"Not unless they can walk through locked doors." The voice that must be Stewart said.

"I told you there was something weird about this group. They even said they were vampires," Betty laughed in a high pitch.

"Well, then they are filthy atheists. They don't deserve to be walking on God's green earth."

"You know that they are probably trying to figure their way back upstairs," Betty mused.

"Once down here, the doors will drive them nuts." Bella heard what sounded like the cocking of a gun. "I say we hunt them down ourselves and forget about White. They are trapped like rats now."

"That is not the deal," Betty's heels began to click on the concrete, "We need to live through the night. We are going to have to let him in."

"You open the door. He's not gonna let this slide. I swear, he's gonna filet us like fish. He's gonna slaughter everyone in this basement like he's done a hundred times before. You know how it works, Betty."

There was a pause of silence, then Bella heard a loud sigh.

"Do you think they will find her?" Betty's voice called out, but it was a different tone. Off in a way.

Bella could hear this Stewart guy breathing loudly through his nose. "Not before we do. And if they do find her, no doubt she'll use 'em. She's a sneaky little piece of trash."

Bella's mind began to run so fast, along with her heart. She thought for sure it would have jumped out of her chest by now. If Edward was here, he would be doing something to calm her down. For a while, neither one of the strangers spoke. Then Bella could hear the heavy boots, who she now knew belonged to Stewart, head over to the opposite of the room. Betty's heels followed after him. Keys rattled. A door squeaked open. The door closed behind them. They were gone. Or were they?

Bella counted to ten before peering out behind the heavy curtain. The room was empty. She quickly ran to and checked the doors, testing the locks on each. All locked. The one to the room full of couches, the root cellar, the one Edward was sucked into. Bella looked at the final door, the one in which Betty and this Stewart guy must have gone through. She walked slowly over to it and then pressed her ear up against the heavy wood. Not a sound could be heard.

Bella raised her hand to the doorknob, hovering for just a moment above the brass. Then she placed her hand and turned. Unlocked.

Bella paced the small room. She could go out into the hall and find her way back up to the top of the stairs, or try looking for the others. On the other hand she could stay where she was and hope that Edward came back. Bella walked up to the door again and opened it just far enough to look out into the dimly lit hall and then shut it again.

As far as she knew, everyone was already out. Or hurt. Edward may not even be coming back. Bella bit down on her lower lip. She had learned more in the last five minutes about Betty and the company that she keeps, as well as the basement. Now, if she could just find the rest of her family.

Bella took a deep breath and opened the door. She knew that the chances of dying tonight were good. Though, it would be better to die trying to help or save her family than to die in a basement by a deranged couple.

&:)

Betty and Stewart left and kept the door unlocked just as White had requested. Demanded more like it. A request and a demand were all the same now. After all, everyone who passed through this house was playing his game.

When you played White's game, you had two choices: his way or the dead way. Everyone learned that lesson - or rule as some call it - sooner or later. It just worked out better for all those involved to learn it sooner.

Of course, that meant he had to follow his rules as well. His rules. House rules.

The time had come to enforce those rules. A little discipline to guide them down the crooked path in which they all lived their lives.

White descended the stairs carefully. He straightened his trench coat, took a deep breath, and pushed the door open.

Then White, who was really black, took his first step into his house, to play his game.

Bella was adjacent to the second passage when she heard the front door swing in and the boots step out of the pouring down rain, over the threshold and down onto the concrete landing.

There was no doubt in Bella's mind as to the identity of who those boots belonged to. The memory of him standing on the walkway a few hours earlier, the trench coat wrapped tightly around his body, was etched into her mind forever.

She knew two things saved her from death at that moment. The first was that the killer did not have a direct line of vision down the passageway. The second, Bella had done without thought, but rather on instinct. She had jumped to her left, into yet another passageway, and leaned up against a wall. And it was there, up against the cold wall, that Bella froze. She could have - and probably should have - moved a little farther down the passage and found a place to hide. Somewhere farther away from the killer. But Bella had frozen.

Bella clamped her mouth shut and put her hand over her mouth. Her breathing was getting heavy again. She knew the person that had come down those stairs was not some ordinary person, but the killer. It was his game that she was in and she knew that any sudden noises would certainly get his attention.

White reengaged the latch and squeezed the padlock shut, making no attempt to be quiet.

He stepped down the final stairs, his heavy boots making a thud as he came in contact with the cement flooring, then stopped. Bella did not need to be a mindreader like Edward to guess what White was thinking or doing. White was staring down the hall, thinking he'd heard something out of place. The pattering of a heartbeat. The rush of breath. The seeping of sweat.

For a long time, there was nothing but silence; except for Bella's heart, which she could hear in her ears, banging loudly. Then White's boots moved again; ten, maybe fifteen steps. They stopped again; Bella knew he was looking for something or someone.

Bella's ears picked up when she made out the small sound of water trickling somewhere. In that moment, Bella felt her last reservoirs of strength fall away. She actually began to relax. When she did, a strange kind of resignation – no, peace - began to wash over her. This was her chance. She could end this now, just by stepping out and making an appearance. She could sacrifice herself and save her family. But what if that still did not end his game?

She knew that if she did something like that, Edward would never forgive her. And it would be all for nothing, because he would do whatever he could to follow close behind. Bella knew that she could not do that to Edward. She would have to be strong and find a way to get her family out of this house.

For a seconds, which felt like an eternity, it was quiet; nothing happened. Bella could not hear White breathing, so maybe White could not hear her.

The boots headed toward the study; she could hear the door open and then shut.

Bella's body totally relaxed as she slid against the cold wall, down to the damp cement floor. She was shaking hard and violently, but at least she was alive.

&:)

Her family had disappeared down these halls. She knew that they were still alive, maybe not in one piece, but alive nonetheless. Or were they? The house had been messing with their gifts since the moment they set foot in here and that was the upstairs; there was no telling what it had been doing to them while in this maze of a basement.

Bella heaved herself off the floor and tested the door next to her; locked. She knew that the stairs that exited to the outside was locked and that White had gone into the room with the mirror and locked that one as well.

She looked down the hall and saw another door and made her way over to it as quickly and quietly as humanly possible. She placed her hand on the knob and turned, it was unlocked. Bella looked inside and saw that it was a utility closet. There was yet another door on her right. Every room in the house seemed to have a closet and more doors. She scanned the room and walls. Shovels, buckets, a pitchfork, rakes, a shotgun.

Bella did a double take and looked back to make sure her eyes were not deceiving her. She blinked at the shotgun leaning in the corner. She could see that it was a single barrel; Charlie had shown her how to use several different guns. _Just in case, _he had always said.

Bella walked over to it and picked it up. She was not sure if it would even work; it looked just as old as the house. But right now, she would take anything to make it look like she was not going down without a fight. She cocked the barrel open at its hinges. Two rounds.

Bella let out a sigh then began to dig around the all the jars that lined the shelves, looking for more bullets, but coming up empty.

A door slammed and footsteps sounded in the hall she had just come from. _Clack. Clack._

But whose clack, clack?

Bella picked up the gun and moved quietly toward the door on the opposite wall, realizing that she was not as panicked anymore. She knew that those that were in the hall were not her family, too much noisy, which meant that she could now protect herself.

"Stewart?" Betty's voice called out.

Bella yanked the closet open; seeing that the floor inside was a foot lower than the one in which she was standing on, she stepped down.

Was she afraid? Sure. But she had made it this far. She closed the door, thinking that she may not have stepped into a closet after all.

Bella turned around in the space and realized that it was a tunnel of some sort that ran in both directions. The very faint light was casting long shadows all over the walls and the floors.

_You think they made it to the tunnel?_ Betty's voice hummed inside of Bella's mind. Maybe she should reconsider and go back as she looked at the thin crack of light coming from the door in which she just stepped from. Then again, there were people after her on the other side of that door. People who wanted to kill her.

Bella face the tunnel again. Maybe, just maybe, it had an exit, or at least another door. She had noticed that it was raining when White came into the basement – if she found rainwater then maybe she would be able to find a way out, a hatch, something.

She looked down the tunnel in both directions and, seeing no reason to choose one way over the other, she turned left and walked, shotgun posed in front of her.

Bella then realized how faint the light was coming from the door. It was dark in the tunnel ahead of her and behind.

She had taken about twenty steps or so when a loud _clang_ rang down the tunnel. Like a latch opening. Back, way back. She turned suddenly, but it was too dark to see anything.

She heard what sounded like something being dropped into the tunnel, something heavy. And something that could run. _Thump. Thump. Thump. _Heading right toward her, a steady but heavy breathing chased the echoing footsteps.

Bella whirled around and ran for her life.


	9. The House 10:57 PM

**Chapter 8**

**10:57PM**

"Where did they go?" Rose asked Emmett as they reached the bottom of the stairwell, "Jasper and Alice were right behind us."

Emmett looked both directions; the thought of Betty's warning did not even register that they should not be down here. The only thing that he could focus on was the smell of rotten eggs. Emmett sucked in his breath, relieved that he did not have the need to breathe. He looked over to Rose who was not only holding her breath but also had her shirt wrapped around her nose.

Emmett's ears perked up when he heard the sounds of heavy breathing. He knew someone was following them, and he would bet that it was not his family. With a glance back up the stairs, he took hold of Rosalie's hand and ran forward, down the hall, and then past three doors before veering into another hall on his left.

He couldn't shake the feeling that he just entered something far different from an ordinary basement. The rooms, for one thing; there were far too many of them. And if these halls were any indication, the space reached way beyond what he thought was a reasonable size for the house above them.

Rose pulled up short and made Emmett lose her hand. She took a look at her surroundings. Something was wrong, she knew it. Someone was after them and wanted them dead, but why were they running? Why couldn't she and Emmett just tear the person apart? She had never harmed a human in all of her existence, except for the garbage that raped her. At that moment, she realized that she did not care who she would need to kill. It did not register in her head that they were trapped down in a basement that was wet and stunk like rotting eggs. The light was dim; she actually had to squint to make heads of where she and Emmett were.

"Rose, come on," Emmett said quietly.

"There is something wrong here," Rose hissed back. For the first time, she felt truly scared. Not from fear of the killer, but from the fact that they were lost.

She placed her hand on Emmett's bicep and the two of them sped forward, around a corner, through a doorway, into a smaller hall, to the end, and then were confronted by a door on their left and another on their right.

"Which should we take?" Emmett asked in her ear.

Rose chose the one on her right.

Emmett closed the door behind them, slightly wondering if the door could be unlocked from the other side, but he supposed it didn't matter right then. He turned his attention to Rose, who was just staring into the room, frozen. He could hear her take in a sharp breath.

"Rose?" Emmett asked, coming up from behind her.

"I've been here before," Rose said as she took in the room. Emmett followed her every move.

Déjà vu swarmed into her mind; it was so strong that she could not separate it from reality.

Rose stepped onto the thick Turkish rug. Purple and orange were the first colors she saw, but they were quickly joined by a surprising array of improbable colors for a windowless room tucked away in the corner of some basement. Bright colors of greens, blues, and reds.

"What do you mean you've been here before?" Emmett asked as he watched Rose walk farther in the room, almost in a trance-like state.

"It's my room," Rose said no louder than a whisper, "Just as I remember it. Like they are still waiting, hoping that I will come home."

Emmett took hold of Rose's wrist and pulled her closer to him. Her eyes never looked at him, but always somewhere else in the room.

"Rose, snap out of it." He breathed his sweet breath into her face, in hopes to dazzle her. "This is not your room, Rose. It is some kind of mind game."

Rose wiggled herself free from her husband's grasp, the room pulling her farther in. It was not the colors that pulled her forward. The room had a texture that was reassuring. Almost safe in its limited power to undo her. It was like facing a familiar monster and knowing that no matter what it did, you were better than it, and you would be able to walk away alive. So really you were safe. In control, even.

This room emboldened her. Rose had been here before and walked away from whatever horror it contained to tell her story. This room was what made her who she is today. It made her stronger and able to rise above all those other women who had suffered the same tragedy before her.

"Come on, Rose, this room is freaking me out," Emmett still stood in his place by the door, unsure of what Rose really saw. All he could see was the obvious: the walls, furnishings, a rug. Nothing that seemed particularly important. But he knew something was pulling his wife away from him.

Rose walked over to the king sized canopy bed, with the tattered red velvet drapes that hung against the main wall. A thick lavender comforter with no fewer than a dozen holes chewed in by rats. Rose reached out and placed her hand on the comforter, a patchwork of satin and velvet.

"It's older looking now," Rose mused to herself, "Time stood still but kept moving at the same time. Why?"

"Rose, I don't understand," Emmett took a few steps to close the gap between the two of them, "It is just a room in some creepy old house. Whatever you see, it is all in your head."

Rose turned on her heel and looked into Emmett's eyes. "No, this is not simply my imagination. I have been here before." The growl that came from her chest made Emmett even more worried and he took a couple of steps back.

Emmett turned his attention to the room to try and see what it was captivating Rose so deeply. Swaths of red and purple and blue material had been hung from the ceiling to hide the mildewed concrete, which still showed in wide gaps. The room was lit by several strings of little lights, much like those that you would put on a Christmas tree – someone's attempt at ambient lighting. If this was any other room in any other house, it might actually be romantic. Emmett looked at the huge bed. Yep, they could be rolling around in that bed, if it were anywhere else but here.

Rose went over to the white dresser that was opposite the bed. It had a mirror, the kind with little pink flowers all over it that would be found in a little girl's room. Well actually, it was her dresser and mirror in her room when she was younger.

The walls were cluttered with painted portraits, mirrors, china plates and candles. Lots of candles. In fact, several dozen or so. That was when she saw it. Emmett could hear her breathing stop and looked up to follow her gaze. A giant pentagram was painted on the wall, centered with the candles on either side. He decided that he really did not like this room one bit.

"Rose, let's go find the others," Emmett began to plead, until his eyes found one other feature of the room that stood out to him. Two pinball machines stood in a corner. One was Batman and the other was Barbie. Mounted on the wall beside them was a giant dartboard that spun on an axis; the same kind that you would find at a circus for a knife throwing act.

"Cool," Emmett said and then walked over to the pinball machines, "It takes quarters. Figures. Hey, Rose, do you have any change?"

A smell caught his attention and he saw that it had also caught Rose's, as she held her nose up in the air, taking in a deep breath. The sweet scent of roses mixed with vanilla commanded her attention.

Rose was in a crouch position, sniffing the air, looking for its source. She had become transfixed by the odd blend of terror and desire. Half of her mind screamed for her to run, to escape the house and its bizarre inhabitants and this crazy game. She stayed crouched though, ready to pounce if the need be.

Another part of her mind told her that she should just breathe in deep and let the aroma calm her frayed mind and nerves. She tilted her head to the side, trying to recognize the scent. She came up to a standing position, her eyes wide. Her grandmother had kept the stuffed pillows in her old house scented with vanilla and potpourri, and the scent had always brought a cleansing calm to Rose, even in the worst of times.

"Smells sort of like Bella," Emmett finally said, looking back to the pinball machine to see if he could get it to work without money.

"It smells nothing like her," Rose said, "It reminds me of my grandmother."

"How is it that you have so many memories of your human years?" Rose just shrugged. "It's this room, Rose. I told you I don't like it. It almost seems like the whole house is messing with our heads or something, confusing us."

"Emmett, you already had that problem."

Rose continued to walk slowly around the room. There had to be some kind of explanation for the eerie familiarity of this room. If she slowed and applied her mind, she'd be able to make sense of it all.

Emmett just watched Rose as she walked over to the dresser and bent over for a whiff from the bowl of potpourri. The pungent odor of lavender and vanilla worked deep into her sinuses. No more roses. She closed her eyes and exhaled slowly. Emotion swelled; for a moment, she even thought that she would be able to cry, if it were at all possible. Then again, look where she was. Rose would not have been surprised if wet liquid did actually fill her eyes. She swallowed hard and bit down on her lip.

She was here for a reason, wasn't she? There was no way that her entire family could have taken a wrong turn and found themselves in such a strange house without some elaborate plan drawing them in. Whoever this stalker or killer was, he wasn't your usual Jason-with-a-machete variety. That much she knew. He was a thinker, a planner. His mind ran much deeper.

Another scent mixed in with the vanilla, and Rose opened her eyes. There was a bowl of cream next to a candle. Without even thinking about it, she took the book of matches that were sitting on the dresser and lit the candle.

The cream called out to her. She lifted it up, bringing it closer to her nose, and inhaled deeply. It was not cream at all, but vanilla pudding, laced with the scent of caramel. In another time, she would have dipped her finger into it and tasted it. But now, the thought repulsed her. She placed it back on the dresser. A noise came from the closet and Emmett was next to Rose in seconds.

The closet door opened behind them. They both spun around to see who it was that had intruded in on them and found their hiding spot.

A man that neither of them had ever seen stood in the doorway, his eyes dancing between Emmett and Rose, but finally resting on Rose.

Time seemed to have stopped as they all took in each other. Neither Emmett nor Rose seemed threatened in anyway, or at least not yet.

"My room," The man said finally, his voice filled with pride. He released the door to the closet and stepped farther into the room. Emmett instinctively pulled Rose closer to himself.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Emmett asked, sizing the stranger up. He appeared to not be any older than twenty; there was a boyish quality to him, slow even.

"Pete," he nodded his head, "Do you like my room?"

Rose looked at Emmett, wondering if they should play along or run. They knew that Pete would never be able to catch up to them, but run where?

Rose lifted her head and smiled, she would play his game. After all, neither she nor Emmett could die. "Yes, Pete I do like your room."

Pete lit up like the sun. He rushed over to the bed and straightened out the comforter, then picked up a candle that had fallen to the floor and busily reinserted it into its holder. All the while, never once letting his eyes leave Rose's face.

Emmett cocked his head to the side, trying to figure out exactly what was going on. When Pete finished, he clapped his hands behind his back as if to say, 'There now it's perfect.'

"We will have to be quiet," Pete said, his eyes flittering to the door, "Mama will hear. She can't come here."

Rose and Emmett looked at each other; there was really no threat here. Pete was nothing more than an overgrown child. This, Rose knew she could handle. But then again, she was tired of playing these mind games. She seemed unable to tell what was real anymore. She looked over to the locked door. Emmett should just take this guy out now and be done with it. _One dead body_ and that one body was standing right in front of them. Neither of them had ever killed a human before, or at least not like this.

Rose leaned into Emmett and hissed so Pete would not hear, "Play smart. Keep your cool. Don't kill him now, he is so innocent."

She straightened back up and clasped her hands together in front of her, "Yes, Pete. I like your room very much."

Pete's face turned a deep crimson. He eased into a large stuffed recliner, leaned forward and watched her as if he weren't sure what to do with his catch.

Rose pulled from Emmett and began to examine the room more closely, all the while very conscious of the fact Pete's eyes were following her every move. Rose had become used to guys worshipping her, but for some reason, in this house, she found it slightly uncomfortable. She looked over to Emmett and saw that he was still standing in the same spot by the dresser, eyes fixed on Pete, ready to pounce at any moment.

"Where did you get the potpourri?" she asked.

It might be an odd question, especially to Emmett who just gave her a glance, but it was smart question. Occupy him, so when the time came to take Pete down, he would not even know it happened. Then again, none of their prey ever saw them coming.

"The what?" Pete asked.

"This," Rose held up the small bowl, "it smells so good."

His unblinking eyes stay fixed on his prize, "It's for you."

"Oh," Rose started. He had so much innocence. "Thank you. Where did it come from?"

"The house."

Rose's eyes moved up to the ceiling, "You mean upstairs?"

Pete shrugged his shoulders, "Sometimes. There are other houses. Do you like the pictures?"

Rose put the bowl that she was holding down and then went to her left where a large portrait was hanging. Emmett's eyes were still fixed on Pete. "Yes. Do you know any of these people?"

"No. But I won't be lonely anymore." Rose turned and looked at him. She knew what the meaning of his words were without the need to ask. He was planning on them not leaving. Or by his eyes, at least not her. She needed to keep him distracted.

"I especially like the dresser. It reminds me so much of my…" Rose stopped in front of the mirror, her voice trailing off.

Her brow furrowed together. Emmett caught on to the lack of breath and walked over to her to see what had made her stop.

The mirror had no reflection. Emmett waved his hands in front of his face and then looked over where Rose's reflection should be. He could not see either of them. He could see the room, but not them. Rose looked at Emmett and then turned to Pete.

"There is something wrong with your mirror," Rose stated.

"It doesn't work." Obviously.

"But I can see everything else." Rose turned to look at the mirror again. Emmett was still flinging his arms through the air. "I just can't see us."

"It's broken."

Rose shrugged her shoulders, probably just as well; she knew that her reflection could probably scare someone away anyway. She knew she was a mess.

"Maybe we really don't have reflections," Emmett said in a low voice. Rose just rolled her eyes. She knew that she had a reflection; she spent half of her existence looking in mirrors.

"Can I ask you some questions, Pete?" Rose turned away from the mirror, it was creeping her out to not be able to see herself.

"Yes, we can talk. I would like that." Pete unbuttoned the bib portion of his overalls and removed his shirt, flexing his muscles and grinning from ear to ear.

A low growl escaped from Emmett and Rose reached out to calm him.

"Do you think I am strong?" Pete asked.

Rose stood frozen at his question and display of actions. She was caught short of disgust for this human. She saw Pete's smile fade. _Just play the game, Rose_, her mind said.

"Yes, I…you are strong." Emmett turned and gave her an amused grin.

"I can throw you," Pete said, his smile returning.

Rose could hear the chuckle building in Emmett's chest before she replied, "Yes, I suppose…"

"Look!" Pete ran over to the closet and pulled out a bag of dog food, "Cereal. It makes you strong."

Rose swallowed hard as she looked at the bag, "I'm…sure it does. Pete, how long have you lived here?"

"Do you want to be strong, too?"

Emmett's laughter finally broke through his chest. Rose glared at him, then went back to focus on Pete. Pete's face, it appeared, did not even register or show any interest in Emmett. It was like Emmett was not even in the room with them, as far as Pete was concerned.

If only Pete knew how strong she really was. "Maybe. But can we talk first?"

Pete carried the large bag of food over to her and then picked up Rose's left hand, placing it on his chest, flexing his muscles underneath. This was going too far in her opinion. But she was still going to play his game, if that meant everyone would get out of this alive.

Rose slowly moved her fingers over Pete's chest; Emmett's mouth dropped open. This was going much further than he would ever have thought. He was ready to rip this vile human apart. But he had promised Rose that he would behave.

"Wow," She said and she actually meant it to a point, the feeling of his chest was almost familiar. It was hard, cool and smooth, much like… Her eyes quickly went to Emmett, then back to Pete. His skin was white, almost translucent, but it showed no veins; soft like rose petals, but just below the surface of the skin, rock hard muscles. She breathed in deeply, but there was no scent. If he were one of them, it was only skin deep.

"Yes, you are so strong." She began to second guess how hard it would be to rip Pete up. Maybe he was not the one they could use to get out of this house.

Pete smiled, "Thank you." But he did not move. He breathed into Rose's face immediately she held her breath; it was stale, dead-smelling.

Rose was eager to change the subject; she stepped away from Pete, Emmett matching her movements. "So how long have you lived here?"

"Do you want to be strong like—"

"Pete, I want to learn more about you and this house so that my husband and I can get out." Rose was beginning to get frustrated now, "Please."

"A long time."

"Where did you come from?" She wanted to ask him who created him.

He frowned as if trying to remember, "The circus. We were gypsies and did fun things. But then Stewart killed a man and his Mama. I killed a man, too. Have you done that?"

"Actually, I have." Rose said without any emotion, "Several. But I don't think killing is good. How many people have you killed?"

Pete shrugged his shoulders, but then smiled. "White kills people, too. He's really strong."

Now they were getting somewhere. "Who's White?"

Pete became confused, "White?"

"Yes, who is he?"

"I think he is going to kill us if we don't find the girl."

Now it was time for both Rose and Emmett to be confused. "What girl?" Rose asked.

"Susan."

"There's a girl hiding down here?"

The light left Pete's eyes; they turned dark as coal. His expression shifted from innocent little boy to irritation.

"You don't like Susan, do you?" Rose asked Pete. For some reason, the thought just occurred to her and needed to be asked.

"She's worse than White." Pete mused.

"Worse than the killer? What does she do?"

Pete's expression darkened even more. The flesh below his eyes sagged and he stared at her, then over to Emmett; he almost looked like he might be sick. "You can't trust her." The he screamed an ear piercing scream, that actually penetrated Emmett and Rose's sensitive hearing. As quickly as it had started, it ended.

Pete opened his eyes and stared at the two of them; the look of being lost was prominent on his face.

Rose opened her mouth and then clamped it shut. She began to wonder if she should continue. There was nothing else to lose. "Why does White want you to kill her?"

No answer; just the blank stare of dark eyes.

Rose stepped forward seductively; she opted to use her 'talent' on him. "I need to know these things," she purred, "Why can't you find her? This is your house, your basement."

Pete's posture tensed, "I don't want to talk anymore."

She knew that she was beginning to lose, but continued on. Getting answers from him now would help her and Emmett later. "You have to tell me. I want to know about the girl. I have--"

"NO!!" he screamed. It was Emmett's turn to tense up.

The three of them squared off into a long silence. Pete still held the bag of dog food. He reached into it and pulled out a jar full of the stuff, then dropped the bag on the floor.

"Was my pudding no good?" Pete asked. Rose pushed her brow together, trying to figure out how this played into the game. "If you didn't like it I can make more."

He hurried to the closet and then emerged with a big bowl of water. Dumping the contents from the bag into the bowl.

"It'll make you strong like me," Pete said, smashing the mixture together.

Rose and Emmett looked on with disgust written all over their faces. Rose glanced over to the bowl of pudding on the dresser, the same one that she had held up to her nose, admiring its sweet smell. If she thought it was unappealing then, she really thought so now after knowing the ingredients.

"Eat it." Pete shoved the contents into her face. Emmett let out a low growl.

Rose looked at the bowl and examined its contents. It was not just dog food, but spoiled rotten dog food.

"I'm not hungry," Rose stated, making her point more clear by crossing her arms over her chest.

"Mama says it will make you strong. You need to be strong. Now eat it!"

Rose shook her head and Emmett stepped in front of her to block Pete from coming any closer to her.

"She said she did not want any," Emmett spoke in a stern, yet calm voice.

Pete's face fell and his jaw slackened. Rose could tell that he was hurt by their reaction to the meal he was offering. "Please eat it. Mama makes me eat and look, I am strong now."

"We don't eat dog food or any food for that matter." Emmett's voice was still low, but without the harsh tone from before.

Pete ignored Emmett and stepped closer to Rose. He dipped his hand into the mush taking out a glob, holding it in front of her. "Please. You need to eat it."

Rose held her ground, set her chin in stone, "I said no!"

Pete reached out and grabbed Rose by the hair and tried to force the food into her mouth. "You will eat it!"

Rose felt like she could have hurled when the taste of the rotten food crossed her lips. She looked up to Emmett who was standing behind Pete, just waiting for her to give him the order. But she was stronger than Pete; she could take control on her own. She had been through worse, after all.

Rose flung her arms out and then spit in Pete's face, "I said stop it!"

The bowl flew free and clambered to the ground, upside down on the concrete floor.

Pete stared at the mess on the floor in total shock; his face darkened. He slowly lifted his enraged eyes. Rose could tell immediately that she might have made a grave mistake. Emmett inched even closer, ready to take down his prey from behind. One bite, one feeding and he would be dealt with.

Pete lifted his fist like a hammer and slammed it down onto Rose's head. She staggered from the blow; it felt like all the times in which she had been in fights with her brothers. But she stayed standing.

Pete did not even flinch as his hand met up with the granite. Out of frustration, he screamed long and loud. Emmett growled immensely and crouched down, pouncing onto Pete. Emmett was done playing games.


	10. The House 11:06PM

**Chapter 9**

**11:06:PM**

If Edward were not already dead, he would have been now; he was at a total loss as to what was going on. He took a deep breath and pushed it out hard; the sound echoing in the dark chamber in which he was just sucked into.

He knew he had not been knocked unconscious, but he had hit the wall with enough force to leave a sizable dent in the brick. He reached out and touched the cool wet surface of the concrete floor.

It was so dark that he was not even sure if his eyes were open. It took him longer than normal to have his sense of sight adjust to the darkness.

Edward pushed himself up and then plopped back down on his bottom, crossing his legs and dropping his head into his hands. He needed to think, to clear his head. Bella!

Slowly he reconstructed the events in his head; everything up to the point in which he had been deposited here. There was Betty, the killers, the house, the basement with the strange halls and doors, and the black closet, assuming he was inside a black closet.

He tilted his head to listen. No humming. No sound at all for that matter, besides the sound of his unnecessary breaths.

Edward hoisted himself off the pavement, standing to his feet and began to feel around. He already knew there was a wall behind him. He stretched his hands out front, extending as far as he could. Nothing. He took a few steps, but he became so turned around he was not even sure which direction he was traveling, at least not without any light.

The lighter. Edward reached into his pocket and withdrew his lighter. It took him a few tries, but it eventually ignited.

A long passage with a rough concrete floor and arched brick ceiling ran in both directions. Edward turned and saw the door. He reached over and turned the knob. Locked, figures.

He noticed that the lighter never flickered; that meant no draft. Then what had sucked him through the door? Could an underground draft even do something like that?

_Don't say I didn't warn you._

For the first time, Edward felt fear run through him. _Welcome to my house._ What if White knew something about this house? What if this game were not about White, Betty, or even his family? What if it were about the house?

Edward shook his head to get that thought out of his mind. It made no sense; a house was not a living being. It could not change or harm someone on a whim. Then again, look at who he was; someone that should not exist. A house was a house. White, on the other hand, was a demented psychopath driven by his thirst for killing. Edward knew about such thirst. He had left Carlisle long ago, traveling the world to feast on the same thirst. But times had changed, things had changed. He had regretted every moment of it since, especially once Bella had come into his life.

Edward leaned against the brick wall for support. The house might be part of his sick plot, but there was no way that the house could be the real threat; a house can't kill. You need blood and flesh to do that. Right?

He could ponder more of this later; right now, his only concern was to get back to the others, especially to Bella. He knew that his brothers and sisters would be able to handle themselves. Or he at least hoped so.

Edward took a deep breath, trying to focus. The silence, the stillness, the not knowing why or what was beginning to get to him. He had become so used to the constant jumbling of voices in his head, that this, the no noise, was driving him crazy. He should be running through these tunnels looking for a way out, not letting the lack of noise get the best of him.

The tunnel went black all of a sudden and then he realized the flame from the lighter had gone out. He flicked it once and the flame brought on the dim light again. He suddenly decided that he did not like this one bit but was at a total loss. The loss of all of his senses was starting to be more than he could bear. He needed to get out of this tunnel and fast. He need to get to the others, he needed to get to Bella.

He once again looked down the long passageways; both directions looked exactly the same and he did not have a reason to go in either direction. He turned on his heel and went right. The drafts that had sucked him in had to have come from somewhere, hopefully another entrance from beyond this hellhole. If he could find an exit, slip past White and run with all the passion and desire that was fueling him right now, he could make it to the next town and get help.

But he knew deep down that Bella would not survive long without him. Memories of her after he had left a year ago went flashing through his mind. The pain that he had caused her; the pain that she still had whenever they were separated, even for his short hunting trips. He would be able to get help only if he knew for sure that Bella was with the others or with him.

He let go of the lighter and in the brief moment of pitch blackness, the terror he'd felt earlier came roaring back to the surface, now without any distractions from contemplation.

He turned and looked down the tunnel in which he had just walked. There was something evil in this house.

He had to find a way out of this tunnel before the lighter ran out of fluid. How long had he even been down here anyway? Edward lit the lighter for a third time and took to a slow run.

A long scream reached his ears from deep within the concrete and brick walls. He pulled himself to a stop and listened. It sounded more male than female. As quickly as he'd heard it, the scream stopped.

He started running again and had made it about thirty feet when he came face to face with a large wooden door. Edward reached out and turned the knob. Locked. Just like every other miserable door in this miserable house.

Edward turned and ran in the opposite direction, again stopped by a dead end. With the same wooden door. Locked.

_How is this possible? Where did the draft come from? I got in here, there has to be a way out!_

The thought of being trapped down here forever in the dark, dank tunnel filled his being with a new sense of urgency. He could sense panic rise deep inside.

Edward began to walk back through the tunnel for a third time, his hands running the length of the walls in search of the door through which he had come. Maybe he could go back through that door and into the study. He traveled the entire length and no door. It had vanished.

_Impossible. I know that I came through the door, I felt it first thing!_

He made a sprint back to the other end to the same wooden door, but nothing had changed; it was still locked and it was solid as a tree. He took a few steps back and attempted to run right through the door. Not even a splinter fell off.

One final run at his full speed into the door at the opposite side with the same results sealed Edward's understanding of his predicament. There was no way out.

The faint sound of singing reached his ears. The same voice he had heard at least a half dozen of times since entering this house. A sweet song that he had burned into his memory, one he would recognize anywhere.

The flame began to flicker and then died. He decided to save the fuel for later; exactly when 'later' would be, he didn't know. Edward leaned against the wall and slid slowly down to the concrete floor. He dropped his head into his hands. If he could cry, he would have welcomed the feeling of tears right now. The tunnel went dark and he tried to get his racing mind to slow.

&

There were times when being beautiful came in handy. Rose had been around enough humans to know that her long legs and great curves could bring on the type of attention that she sometimes didn't want. But this Pete guy gave her the kind of attention that she definitely was ready to get rid of. The thought of him striking her repulsed her. She looked up and over to Emmett who was crouched and ready pounce. Rose just shook her head in the slightest movement that Pete would never see. This person had not even flinched when his hand collided with her granite skull. They were dealing with someone or something that might be very similar to them. And if that were the case, they might need more than just her and Emmett to take him down. Rose did the only thing she knew. She upped her charms and 'talents' and continue to play his game.

"Please," Pete said, "I don't want to hurt you. But you have to eat it. You are guilty. If you don't eat your sin, it will eat you; that's what Mama always says. I know if you tried it, you would like it."

_What was it with him and sin?_ "I am not guilty of any sin!" Rose yelled out angrily, her eyes beginning to get darker by the second. "I don't care what that bitch that you call a mother has stuffed into your head and your mouth. I am not going to eat that shit!"

The venom that had pooled into her mouth, she spat at Pete with all the power she had in her and hit him square in the eye. Emmett stood back and watched, waiting for the deranged man to start withering in pain; but as the seconds ticked by, nothing happened.

Other than the fact that Rose spitting in his face enraged Pete even more. He took a fistful of rotten dog food and shoved it into Rose's mouth. Rose spit that out all the same.

"If your mother forced you to eat this crap, then she is a pig!" Rose said.

Pete dropped to his knees and placed his hands over his ears. "No, no, no. Guilty, Guilty. You have to eat. You have to."

"No. I. Don't!"

Rose was beginning to realize that eating this garbage was a pivotal part of Pete. It was obviously part of his religion; real as Heaven and Hell were to him. An extension of society's obsession with faith in the nonexistent powers of God and Satan. This is what Rose was beginning to believe. But she knew the truth. There could be no God, because if there were, he would not have allowed the creation of her kind.

Rose had never hated religion as much as she did at this very moment.

"Are you innocent?" Pete asked, dragging her mind out of the far sides.

"Yes," she said, her voice still strong.

Pete stood up, shocked by her answer. It was apparent that her claim to be innocent had offended Pete. "You're better than me?"

Rose was tired of playing this game; it had to end. She walked over to Emmett and took hold of his hand. "My husband and I are going to leave now. And if you know what is best for you, you will step out of the way. Because believe me, we are better than you and we have no problem killing you either."

"Bad wife!" Pete yelled, totally ignoring Emmett, Pete closed the gap between them in two long strides. He took hold of Rose by the arm, dragged her like a Barbie doll over to the round target board, and then strapped her in.

Emmett tried to make a move to save Rose, but he was stuck, as if an invisible force were holding him there; powerless to save his wife.

"Please, what are you doing?" Rose screamed out with panic in her eyes.

Pete gave the wheel one hard spin. "Now tell me when you've learned."

Rose began to scream long and loud as her world began to spin. _Where the hell is everyone else?_

Rose could see Pete throwing something into the air, aiming right for her. The point of the dart bounced off of her thigh, bending the tip.

Pete walked over and picked it up to examine it. "What are you?"


	11. The House 11:10 PM

**Chapter 10**

**11:10 PM**

There were two sounds that reached out to Edward as he sat against the concrete wall in total black silence. The first was a distant scream; a woman's voice this time. He was unable to place whose.

The second was the faint humming again. Closer, much closer than before and even closer than the screaming.

Edward reached into his pocket and pulled out the lighter, flicked it on and stood still, listening intently. Could it be the pipes?

He took a step away from the wall and then stopped, his ears perking up to the sounds around him.

_HMMMM...HMM...HMMM... _

No, that was not the pipes. It was the sound of a child humming; very faint, but clear all the same. Edward turned in the direction from which he thought it was coming. Too clear, as if it was coming from the tunnel!

"Hello?" Edward called out into the bleakness. His voice echoed off the walls and the humming stopped.

Edward slithered down the tunnel, trying to heighten his senses.

_HMMMM...HMM...HMMM..._

Ahead on his right, but how was that possible? He'd been up and down this tunnel numerous times, never once finding anything but two huge locked wood doors.

A small door came into view at the edge of the circle of light that was casted by the lighter. _How could I have missed that? Or could it be the door in that I'd been sucked through had reappeared?_

Edward lifted his lighter higher to get a better view. The door was smaller than the one that he had come through, no more than three feet high. He stopped in front of it and pressed his ear up against the door.

_HMMMM...HMM...HMMM..._

Silence followed.

"Hello?" Edward whispered. Whomever it was behind the door, Edward knew he didn't want to upset them. He put his hand on the knob and turned, this time surprised to find it unlocked.

Edward, who was on his knees, peered inside and saw that it was a small storage place. Then the smell of her hit him before he actually saw her; a small girl seated on the floor, leaning against the back of the wall. Her face was pale and her eyes were closed.

His first thought was that she was dead. He tilted his head to listen for a heartbeat; it was there, but very faint. Just as he went to move inside farther, the flame of his lighter went out sending him back into total darkness. Edward fumbled with the lighter, taking him two or three tries to get it lit again. Finally, the small room was aglow and the eyes of the girl were open wide, staring at him, but not seeing. Dull circles of grey.

The sight of her puzzled Edward and he moved quickly out of the small space, slamming the door shut behind him. Something was wrong with her, but he could not figure out what. _Edward, she is just a little girl._

_HMMMM...HMM...HMMM..._

She was alive? Edward began to pace the tunnel, rubbing one hand through his hair and the other pinching the bridge of his nose. The humming never ceased.

Edward stopped in front of the door and flung it open again, ready to help this small girl who was more than likely a victim and trapped in this hell hole like he and the rest of his family were.

However, the storage space was now gone. Edward furrowed his brow together. In its place was a small room filled with junk, lit by an oil lamp. The girl was now standing, braced with a board in her hands, ready to strike. Her face was pale and smudged with dirt, but she was definitely not dead, and her eyes were now clear and a deep brown - a lot like Bella's - not gray like the dead. Her dark brown hair was swept up on both sides and tied at the back. If Edward had to guess, he would say she was around thirteen years old, but was close to the same height as Alice.

She blinked at Edward, as if to judge him, but she did not seem to be frightened. Maybe resolved to hit him if necessary, but not frightened. Edward looked down to the floor, by the looks of it - the crumbled blankets and empty soda cans - she had been hiding down here for a while.

Edward swallowed hard. "Are…you ok?"

The girl mumbled something which he could not make out; he began to think that she may not be entirely lucid.

"Are you ok?" He asked again.

"Do I look ok?" she snarled at him, "What's your name?"

"Edward." He clanked down the tunnel. "I got stuck down here."

She lowered the board. Cautiously, she walked out of the small room and joined Edward in the tunnel, glancing in both directions before finally looking up at him. She seemed ok from where Edward was standing.

"Who are you?" Edward asked carefully.

Again she mumbled something softly to herself, and then looked back to Edward. "Susan. Are you alone?"

"No, there are six of us."

She walked closer to Edward, dropping the board to the ground and then wrapped her small arms around his waist, clinging to him like he was life himself.

Edward put his hand on her head and smoothed down her hair, rubbing small circles on her back. She was clearly a victim in the same predicament as he and his family were in. He let the lighter die and fall from his hand as he wrapped her small frame in both of his arms, pulling her closer. In all the silence, he began to focus on her thoughts. Nothing, it was like trying to read Bella. This small girl actually looked very similar to Bella as well.

"Thank God," she breathed out, "Thank God."

He wanted to say something, but was at a total loss for words. All he could do was to continue to rub his hands down her back.

"It'll be okay," she whispered. "It will all be…" her voice went down so low that Edward did not catch the last part.

But he did know that it was a strange thing for a little girl to be saying; it should be him telling her that everything would be okay. The poor girl must be delusional. Edward could feel a low growl begin to rise in his chest at the thought of what brought this small girl into this house. Or worse yet, what kept her here.

"I…You looked like you were sleeping or something when I first opened the door," Edward started. "Then you were standing. Were you singing? Why did you not yell for help?"

Susan unwrapped her arms from Edward's waist and took a step back. "There's something wrong with this house. You know that much, don't you?"

Edward lifted his eyebrow. He knew that something was out of place, but what? "Wrong?" he asked.

"It's haunted."

Edward was not a believer in haunted houses; he was not a believer in much actually. His beliefs had died when Carlisle made the choice to change him into what he was now.

"How long have you been here?" Edward asked her.

Susan turned toward one of the locked doors. "We should hurry. They might find us now."

The poor girl's fears had been replaced by desperation, Edward thought. Had the killer done this? Brought her here to be part of his sick game?

Edward swallowed the venom that was pooling in his mouth at the thought of some sick jerk doing this to a child. "Do you know how to get out of this tunnel?"

Susan reached into a pocket sewn on the front of her white cotton dress and withdrew a key. "They don't know about this room."

Edward let out a deep sigh, "You're a smart girl. Do you know where the tunnel leads?"

She nodded her head. "Yes, but we will have to be fast."

"Do you know the whole house as well?"

Susan bit down on her lower lip, casting her eyes down, "No."

Edward went to move, but paused for a fraction. Could he trust her? Then again, why would he not? She was just a small girl who was trapped down here like the rest of them. There was no way that he could look into her deep brown eyes and not trust her.

"Do you know where Bella is?"

"Who's Bella?"

Of course she would not know. "Bella is my wife. One of the six of us that are trapped in this house. I know that she is down here. We were separated when I was sucked into this tunnel. What kind of basement is this anyways?"

"A freaky one, that's for sure. Now follow me."

"Wait. Do you know how to get out of the house?"

"Don't you know how to get out of this house?"

Edward's dead heart dropped to the pit of his stomach. She had expected him to take her to safety. "No, not yet."

Susan smiled. "You will. Now follow me."

Jasper and Alice had been walking in circles ever since they had come down the basement stairs.

"I don't understand how we lost them," Alice said quietly, her grip on Jasper's arm was beginning to leave a mark, "Did we not already come this way?"

"It's all looking the same to me as well," Jasper looked at his wife.

The dimly lit hall and the multiple doors had been leading them deeper and deeper into the basement. They had tried to turn around a couple of times, but it always seemed to take them back to the room they had just left.

"There has to be away out. Right, Jazz?" Alice voice was extremely high pitched; fear was evident in her voice.

Jasper had tried numerous times to send out waves of calm, but they always came back to him.

The sound of water could be heard dripping close by, it sounded more like rain than a leaky pipe. The thought occurred to him that if they follow the sound, then maybe they could find a way out. The two of them kept walking in the same direction along the same hallway, going through the same door yet again.

"How could we have gotten so turned around?' Jasper asked, looking at the wooden door that they had just walked through.

_Bang. Bang._

The sound of gunshots made Alice jump. Jasper wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close.

"What was that?" Alice whispered.

Jasper knew it had been close; it sounded like it was coming from the wall to his right. He placed Alice down onto the floor and walked over to the wall. That was when he saw a small door. He opened it and realized it was more like an air vent. He slid in some and could make out the sounds of heavy breathing and a heartbeat so loud and close, it sounded like it was in his ears.

Alice walked up behind Jasper and knelt down next to her husband, who was wiggling himself out of the hole.

"There is someone down there. The hole is tight, but we should be able to get through," Jasper said.

"Who's down there?" Alice asked, sticking her head in the hole, the scent hit her hard and a vision flashed in front of her.

Alice's eyes were hazy when she pulled back out of the hole. Jasper waited for her vision to end before touching her.

"Bella," was all Alice said.

Jasper pushed his way through the air vent and followed the sound of the heartbeat; Alice hot on his heels. They twisted and turned in the old vents that reeked of rat urine. Not only were they lost in the basement, but now they were trapped in the tight space like a packed of sardines.

_Bang. Bang._

The gun could be heard right in front of them. Jasper pushed his way through an open grate and could see Bella's legs as she was pinned up against the wall. He reached out and touched her leg; an ear splitting scream came out of her mouth.

Jasper pushed his way out of the grate and tumbled onto the ground. He stood up quickly and turned to look at Bella, her already pale face was now ghostly white. Jasper covered her mouth with his hand to get her to stop screaming while Alice placed her cold hands on Bella's arm.

Bella's eyes were big and unblinking as she stared out into the dark tunnel; the shotgun she was holding still held high, ready to fire another round. She was beyond terrified; Jasper could feel that emotion rolling off of her in waves.

"Alice, talk to her. She needs to calm down, her heart is racing and could very easily stop from fright," Jasper said as Alice leaned into Bella's ear and began to whisper.

Bella eyes still stayed fixed at something down the dark hallway. She then lifted her hand and pointed.

Jasper followed her finger with his eyes and saw for the first time what was scaring her to death. Bella cocked the gun and fired another shot.

"Bella, stop," Jasper hissed at her quietly and then quickly placed his hand on the gun. "Alice, get her out of here now."

"No, you will need help," Alice's voice staggered as she eyed the large creature in front of them.

Jasper stepped in front of Alice and Bella, crouching down, ready to fight; his eyes becoming darker by the second. The figure at the other end began to take one step and then another, the sound of footsteps resonating off the walls and the floor. But that was not the sound he cared to listen to. It was the sound of silence that got Jasper's attention as well as Alice's. The stranger had no heartbeat.

The man had his gun held high; he was not the same figure from the truck, this was someone new. He was an older man, wearing ragged dark overalls covered in dirt and mud. Jasper let out a low growl, more to let the man know not to come any closer, but he dared not listen.

"She told you not to come down here," the man's voice was raspy. "I am just here to kill the girl. One dead body and then everyone can leave."

The man raised his gun and pointed it at Bella. Jasper leapt to his feet and ran toward the man before he had a chance to cock the gun, immediately biting down hard on the man's neck and ripping his head off. A cloud of dark smoke came from the hole in his neck, not the pulsing of blood.

Bella and Alice ran to Jasper as he watched the form continue to seep of smoke.

"What is he?" Alice asked, looking at the headless figure.

"His name is Stewart," Bella said, "He chased me down here."

"Where's Edward?" Jasper asked, looking to around to see if his brother had ended up getting hurt while trying to protect Bella.

A small sob escaped Bella's throat, "I don't know. He went through a door and vanished."

Jasper took hold of both of the girls' hands and led the way down the hall. "There has to be way out of here."

Bella still gripped the gun as they walked down the tunnel. If holding the gun kept her calm, Jasper was all for it.

A low whisper cut through the tunnel. "Give me one dead body, Jasper."

Jasper spun on his heel, looking for the voice. Bella tightened her grip on the gun. Nothing there.

In fact, the body of Stewart was not even where he had left it.

"That one didn't count." Again the low voice, this time from behind them.

Bella fired without thought down the tunnel, but at nothing.

"Am I losing my mind?" Jasper asked, looking at his wife and sister.

"No, we all heard it," Alice confirmed.

Bella cocked the gun again and murmured. "God help us."

The girl named Susan led Edward through a short hall that opened up into the first room that he and Bella had entered upon descending into the basement, the one with all the sofas.

Edward pulled to a stop, confused by their entry point. He didn't remember seeing the door they just came through. The four bright sofas were the same, as were the paintings that covered the walls, and the potbellied stove.

Susan hurried through the room, toward the main door, gliding with confidence, yet tentative at once. Much like the way Alice moved. Edward watched her, unsure how he should feel about finding such an innocent but knowing girl who, on one hand, seemed as though she'd been made for this place and, on the other hand, looked clearly the victim.

"Hold on." Edward called out, his senses catching up to him.

Susan turned around. Now, in the full light, he saw that her dress had been scuffed and torn. Brown streaks dirtied her cheeks.

Her eyes were questioning. "Yes?"

"I don't remember seeing this hall," He glanced back over his shoulder at the door that they had passed through. "I could have sworn that was a closet."

"It's confusing, I know," she said.

Edward walked past her to the main door, "Haunted."

"Haunted," she said.

Edward pulled open the main door and looked down the hall; the stairs ascended to his left, going down to the main floor. The girl was saying something, but his mind was on those stairs. He glanced back down the hall, saw that the other doors were all closed, and then ran at his top speed to door at the top of the stairs. He put all his strength into the door, but it wouldn't budge. Locked. Figured.

"Locked," the girl said. Edward turned to look at her, having totally forgotten that she was there. "We can't get caught out here."

Edward pounded on the door in hopes that maybe Bella was on the other side, "Bella!"

"We've got to go," Susan hissed. "I might know where your friend is."

Edward ran down the stairs. "Which door?"

Susan was already gliding to the last one on the left. Opening it, she ran in, down another hall strung with small white bulbs, like Christmas lights. He followed her around three corners.

She passed through a low door and ducked into a crawl space. The low-slung ceiling was strung with pipes. She hurried forward, bent over to keep from hitting her head.

"In there," she whispered, pointing to a small door. "It goes to the closet."

Edward stood by the door and looked at it, "What closet?"

"It's where he hides."

"Who?"

"The slow one."

Codes, she was speaking in codes again. "Susan, where are we?"

"In the basement."

Edward let out a low sigh, "I know that. I mean in this house. There's a killer stalking us, for heaven's sake! We had our tires slashed and just happened to wander into this house conveniently tucked away, with the inbreds waiting for the next unfortunate soul to walk into their trap. And then there just happens to be you."

She just stared up at him, her eyes round and big. "Getting out of the basement is a problem."

_Okay, then we will deal with the bigger picture later._ "You mean we're stuck down here? How did he get you down here?"

"I mean you shouldn't have come down."

"Trust me, it wasn't our first choice. But I couldn't just leave my family behind." Edward turned his attention to the door. "What's through this door?"

"It goes into a closet."

"And?"

"There's something wrong with this house, Edward. You see things. If you just walk in there, he'll kill you."

"Who? How do you know my family is there with him?"

Her eyes suggested that she knew a thing or two about this house and what happens when he walks through that door.

Edward softened his voice, "How did you get down here?"

Susan hesitated biting on her lip. "I've been down here for three days. You're not the only one who wandered into their trap."

"And you couldn't get out?" Edward asked.

She stared up at him without answering. _Dumb question, Edward. Of course she couldn't get out, she's still here._ Her clear eyes searched his. He detected the weight of her ordeal and now felt responsible for her rescue as well as the rest of his family, even though he had no clue as to how to pull it off.

Edward looked at the small door that led them to the back of someone's closet. _And a child shall lead them. _The verse crossed through Edward's mind; he remembered hearing it before, somewhere. In many ways, Susan reminded him of a child; nearly grown now, but still innocent. Much like the innocence he tried to keep with Bella.

Edward cut his thoughts short, shaking his head.

"Okay, I'm going to go see what I can see. You're sure I'll be in the closet?"

"It could be open."

Edward nodded and reached for the wooden latch that held the door closed.

"Maybe I should go with you," Susan said.

Edward looked at her, her eyes so innocent. "No. Is there really no way out of this basement?"

"One dead body."

Edward stopped. So she was part of this insane game as well. _Give me one dead body and I might let rule two slide._

Susan motioned to the shadows on their left. "There's a shaft over there. The house is wrong, remember that."

"You mean—"

"I mean evil."

Evil. Haunted. He didn't know that to think anymore or about all the code that she was speaking. He focused on her mind, but heard nothing, like hitting a brick wall. Sure, evil. But what was evil, really? His kind had been considered evil for centuries.

"Okay, I'm going to take a look. I'll be right back." Edward lifted the latch to the door.

"Edward?"

"What?" he whispered back.

Susan's warm hand touched his, never flinching from his cold skin. "Promise you won't leave me."

Edward looked at her and saw that her eyes were misty with tears. His mind jumped back to Bella, having made the same promise to her. He drew her head close and kissed her hair. Again, Bella flashed through his mind.

"I won't leave you. I promise. Just like I won't leave the others, okay?"

"Okay."

"Don't go anywhere."

Edward pulled the door open and stuck his head into the closet. Junk was piled up everywhere. Some stale-smelling jackets and overalls hung directly in front of him.

Edward withdrew his head. "I'm going in so I can see past the clothes."

Susan said not a word.

He eased into the closet and parted the old jackets; he could now see light from a dozen or so thin cracks in the door paneling and hear the sound of a man's muffled voice. Edward stepped beyond the clothes and quietly pressed his eye up to the door to look through one of the thin cracks.

At first, he only saw the strange man sitting on the side of the bed with his back to the closet, mumbling. But then the man moved and crossed out of Edward's sight, leaving him with a clear view of the bed.

Rosalie was strapped to the bedposts by her wrists and ankles, still the white pants and red shirt that she had been wearing earlier. Her body was shaking with dry sobs.

Edward stared, momentarily overwhelmed. He craned his eyes to see farther into the room, finally resting on Emmett who appeared to be frozen in his spot, ready to pounce, but not actually doing so.

"You have to be a good wife and eat," the man said, passing the door with a bowl in his hands. He scooped out some paste-like substance and tried to cram it into Rose's mouth, forcing her to eat. Her mouth was clamped shut in a tight line, refusing.

Edward began to shake; rage and anger filled him, his eyes becoming darker than any night.


	12. The House: Time Unknown

**Chapter 11**

**Time: Unknown**

Pete threw another dart at Rose, this time with more force, and just like before, it bounced right off of her granite skin. For the first time in decades, Rose felt like she could have thrown up, though from the constant turning of the wheel and not from food.

"I am going to ask you again, what are you?" Pete was getting unnerved.

Venom was pooled into Rosalie's mouth, ready to be spit out at the right moment. Pete walked closer and picked up another dart. He stopped the wheel and looked into Rose's black eyes. She looked over his shoulder to Emmett, wondering why her husband wasn't coming to her rescue. It was like he was frozen, unable to move or even breath. She kept hissing at Emmett to kill Pete, but it wasn't working. Rose was left to fend for herself, but unlike all those years ago, this time she could fight back. The only problem was, she wasn't even sure what Pete was. She didn't think he was human.

Just as Pete reached up to untie one of the leather straps, Rose spit in his face. "I'm your worst nightmare! Now let me go, God damn it!" Rose yelled, beyond furious.

"Sinner!" Pete shouted at her and slapped her hard across the face. "Now, who are you?"

Rose let out a laugh at his choice of words; her, a sinner. He was a demented boy and she was the puppy that he had chosen to extract allegiance from. Rose did not truly believe in demons, but she was beginning to rethink that. Pete was undoubtedly a demon trapped in the body of a man and with the mind of a child. As soon as she got down from the torturous wheel, Rose would be happy to rip him limb for limb and would even light the match herself.

"I'm not guilty of sin! You are, you worthless human!"

Pete untied all the bands and pulled her down, swinging Rose over his shoulder.

"You need to learn, bad wife."

"I'm not your wife," Rose said, kicking and pounding on Pete, to no avail.

Pete walked over to the bed and then proceeded to tie her up again. She could not figure out why she was not able to escape, even with her strength and speed, Pete always seemed to be a second ahead of her. The leather bands were pulled tight, and actually began to break the surface.

He reached out and tucked a piece of hair behind Rose's ear, almost gently, "You are so pretty."

_Okay, he is going back to a game that I can play._ Rose reached out with disgust and softly stroked his face. "And you are so strong."

Pete lowered himself closer and pressed his cheek up against Rose's, unmoving, clueless. She realized then that she was nothing more to him than a toy. Rose sucked in her breath and held it; the sweet smell of sweat on his neck was sickening. Pete brushed his hand lightly along her arm.

"But you are so cold," Pete stood up and grabbed a blanket to put on her. "If you eat the pudding it will warm you up."

"You want to know what I want?" Rose said with as much hatred as she muster, "I want you to rot in hell!"

Edward wasn't sure if he should rush in and rip the guy that was standing over his sister to shreds, or sneak up on him. He knew that Susan was very close behind him and did not want to subject her eyes to his killing techniques. Edward looked around for something that with any luck would at least knock the guy out long enough for them all to escape. Edward reached behind him and in his haste pulled too quickly on a cricket bat, dislodging something else in the process. Something that clanked to the ground with a loud bang.

In that moment, everything came to a standstill. The strange man stopped his mumblings. Rose snapped her head up and looked directly at Edward, who immediately stopped breathing. It was so quiet; he could hear his watch tick even louder than normal. At that moment, he knew what he had to do and that he had to do it now. There was no time to waste.

Edward dived at the door, his shoulder leading and the cricket bat ready to swing. The one and only door to budge open with his force snapped under his weight. He lept across the room and swung the bat hard, hitting his target.

The man did not even have time to put up a fight. The thick board swooshed through the air and smashed against his skull with a loud _crack!_ Edward looked at the piece of board that was in his hand and then up to the man. The crack had not been the sound of his skull, but rather the board breaking into splinters.

Edward let out a low growl and threw himself at the man, straight into where Emmett was still standing. The sound of the three men pounding into each other was deafening. Emmett came out of his trance and quickly helped Edward with the garbage. Edward and Emmett stepped away from the man, to play a little game. Emmett nodded to his brother and with full force, the two of them ran into each other.

Pete grunted and staggered, then fell to his hands and knees.

Emmett ran to the bed to pull the restraints from Rose, to free her from the bedposts.

"Well, it is about time you woke up," Rose hissed, working on the leather straps that were on her ankles.

Behind them, they could hear Edward still fighting with Pete. When the last rope was finally undone, Rose jumped off the bed and ran to the monster that had taken her prisoner.

"Kill him, Edward!" Rose screamed, Edward turned and looked at his sister and then to the man that was now on the floor, writhing in pain. Rose saw the indecision in Edward's eyes and took a step forward, "If you can't, I sure as hell will."

From the corner of his eye, Edward saw movement at the door. Two dead bolts were engaged on this side; both with flat brass knobs. Both of those knobs were silently turning at the same time. Opening. Seemingly on their own accord.

Edward reached down and touched Rose's arm. "Rose, wait."

Edward's eyes pulled together and everyone in the room froze, except for Pete who was grunting and staggering over toward the door.

"Edward!" Rose screamed.

The door swung in and Betty faced the room with a shotgun leveled hip-high. Edward examined her face; there was something different about her, something wicked in her eyes. It was the look of a woman who was done with playing the game of hostess.

"Get back," she said softly, yet her voice was full of authority.

Edward turned to look at Emmett and Rose. They all knew these were not your average humans and that this was not your average house. On any other given day, a shot gun would do nothing but bounce off of them. Edward stretched his hands in the air and his siblings followed suit. For just a split second, Edward was able to tap into her mind and Betty was more than ready to be trigger happy.

"Stewart is right, you are all sinners!" Betty yelled at the three of them.

Pete dived at his Betty and struck the barrel with both hands as it discharged a load of lead into the bedpost, blowing it to smithereens. The three vampires held their ground, not flinching, united as a family.

"Don't kill my wife!" Pete roared at Betty.

Betty turned the butt of the gun so that it was facing over Pete's head and slammed it down hard with a solid _thunk_.

"They all have to die!" Betty said.

A soft voice from the closet stopped them all. "No, they don't."

Edward moved his head. Susan stood in the entryway of the open door, staring at Betty, whose face blanched with shock.

"White's the one who should die," Susan took a step out of the closet, putting her into the room. Her voice was calm, but her eyes told a different story.

Edward held out his hand for Susan to take, but instead, she turned her attention to Betty. "You know that if you kill me, White will not have any reason left to let you live. As soon as I'm dead, he will kill the rest. Is that not his deal? And once the rest are dead, he's going to kill you, too."

Betty stood still as ice, as did everyone else in the room. Susan turned and looked at Edward, like a little girl who held a secret.

"But she cannot kill me yet, because White still needs me for his game."

Slowly, Betty began to defrost and a low growl escaped from her. Susan threw herself forward.

"Susan! Don't!" Edward called out.

Susan collided with Betty who staggered back out of the door.

Edward stood there frozen by the sight of this small frail girl dressed in a tattered summer dress, throwing herself at the much larger woman. Three days in the basement had clearly redefined her need for self-preservation. The bedroom door slammed shut behind Susan and Betty. The shotgun discharged in the hall.

"Edward," Rose called out, pulling on her brother's arm.

Pete began to move again, straight toward Rose. Emmett lept over to the other side of the bed and slammed into Pete with all of his strength, the two men crashing through the wall.

"Hurry, through the closet," Edward shouted out over the noise of boulders being thrown around.

Rose was already inside and crawled all the way through to the crawl space, Emmett right behind her. Edward quickly caught up to them and moved ahead.

"On the right," Edward hissed, "Follow me."

Edward led the way with Rose in the middle and Emmett taking up the rear. They ran crouched in the tunnels, fleeing the roars of Pete, who was ignoring his wounds and smashing his way through the closet.

Edward quickly found the grate that covered a three-foot wide shaft, an air duct of sorts, exactly where Susan said it would be. Edward pulled the grate off quickly and with ease.

"Go!" he told Emmett and Rose.

Rose scrambled past Edward, sticking her head into the small, dark opening, and then turned around, her eyes wide open with fear. "Don't you two dare leave me alone."

"We are right behind you," Emmett said, crouching down on the floor next to Rose, "I will never leave you."

Rose ducked in and Emmett followed close behind.

Edward glanced back just as Pete barged into the crawl space; the oaf looked around, failing to see them, and then headed in the opposite direction.

Edward entered the shaft, pulling the grate closed behind him.

Bella, Jasper, and Alice walked through the basement, not knowing exactly where they were going. Jasper could sense the fear coming off of Bella in ripples, making himself even fearful at what may lay ahead of them.

Room to room, hall to hall, door to door, neither of them caring about the paintings or the improbable décor nor the pentagrams that had been sprayed across the walls. In fact, the only way to stay focused was to not look at, or even think about, the oddities.

Bella was ready to run into the others, as long as the others included Edward. She let her mind drift back to the past few weeks since their wedding. Edward was stubborn, just as much so as Bella was. He wouldn't back down, never did. The past weeks had been rough; she had been ready for the change since the day she found out the truth about him and his family. But he had been hell bent on not having it happen. There was even a time in which she thought about throwing her hands in the air and saying screw it. Of course, Alice saw it coming and talked her out of it, told her that Edward would come around, she just needed to give him time.

Right now, though, she realized how much she needed him and missed him. There was a pain in her chest that had been since the second his grasp had her let go. It was just being masked up with fear at the moment. But she needed Edward to survive, more so now then ever before. She looked over to Jasper and Alice, giving them a small smile, thankful that she was not alone anymore.

The three of them entered down a long concrete hall and noticed the water leaking down the wall for the first time. They stopped and turned their attention to the floor, where at their feet was a pool of water. The house groaned. Bella's resolve about being safe with her family seemed to slip away. None of them were safe.

Alice looked around and spied a door that was open next to the pool of water. Alice peered inside with Jasper close behind; it appeared to be a root cellar.

"No, no, no," Bella began to chant from behind them.

Jasper turned and looked at Bella, her eyes were wide with fear, her body beginning to tremble.

"Alice, wait," Jasper called out to his wife, "Bella is scared again, worse than before."

Jasper walked over to Bella and placed a hand on her. She jumped at his cold touch, but still continued to chant.

"Bella, is this where you and Edward were split apart?" Jasper asked calmly, trying with all of his energy to calm Bella down.

Alice came up to her and pulled her into a tight embrace, "It's going to be okay, Bella. We won't leave you. I promise."

The three of them walked hand in hand through the door. The door slammed closed behind them. They all whirled around; the door to their right was wide open. Bella knew exactly where they were, while Jasper and Alice appeared lost. She and Edward had walked through this room recently.

Bella hesitated for a moment and then closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, before leading her family through the open door into another much smaller hallway. The door at the end was wide open.

She had taken three more steps when there was a loud _bang!_ from behind them, startling not only Bella, but Alice as well. Jasper moved to the middle of the girls, ready to protect them.

The door had blown shut. Two in row, one solid _bang._

Bella let go of Jasper's hand and spun around toward the open door.

Edward dropped to the floor of a medium sized boiler room and examined it in silence. Rose was on his right, Emmett on his left, taking in the dozen or so iron pipes that rose out of the two large boilers on either side and disappeared up into the ceiling above. A single clear bulb burned above their heads, as in most of the rooms. Two doors stood opposite the boilers.

Edward saw it all, but was not looking at it, his mind was still on Susan. It had taken every ounce of resolve to not go back through Pete's room to find out if she had survived. He just had a hard time wrapping his mind around what she had done. He held tenaciously to a whisper of hope that her claims might be true. Maybe the inbreds would keep her alive as leverage. He did know one thing, either she knew more or the inbreds knew more. Either way, he was in the dark.

The way he saw it, he had lost Susan either way. He had made a simple promise to her that he would not leave her but he had. Just like he had Bella. All he had ever promised Bella was to never leave her again and not even a month into the marriage, he had broken that promise. Technically, however, it was not his fault. But he knew she would end up blaming him anyway.

Edward didn't know if Bella or Susan were dead or alive, but he was holding out on hope that they had both escaped from this hell hole that they were all in.

Beside him, Rose and Emmett were quiet, not because of the room, but because they seemed to be reflecting on the events that had brought them to this room. Rose lowered her head onto Emmett, who pulled her close to him as she dry sobbed, finally releasing all the fear, pain, frustration that had built up.

"I'm sorry, Rose," Emmett said, rubbing her back, "I am so sorry."

Emmett felt a strong urge to comfort his wife. However, his need was from more than desire, maybe not desire at all. It came from hours of raw nerves. It came from the dark halls and sickness of the basement. It came from the memory of her lying in Pete's bed, the stranger telling her that she was now Pete's wife. The thoughts brought up a low growl in his chest. The feeling of complete powerlessness to help his wife at the time she needed it most. It came from being trapped in this house, in this game; a killer's game.

Emmett squeezed Rose tighter, "I'm sorry, Rose."

Rose caught a sob in her throat and pulled away, kissing every square inch of Emmett she could get to in the tight space, holding on to his shirt, wanting him to be closer to her, protecting her. "No, don't be sorry. Thank you." Her hands grabbed the collar of his shirt and kissed him hard and passionately on the lips.

After a few moments, Rose lowered her head down and rested it on his shoulder, letting out a contented sigh, relishing in his scent. Emmett continued to hold her close, looking beyond her frame to Edward. Their eyes connected and in that moment, they both saw pure fear.

They were three lost souls. Souls that had escaped death, not just tonight, but many times over. Edward believed that it was very much possible that not everyone would make it out of this house alive. The stakes were high. They had started off lost as separate people, but now, as Edward looked around, he realized that they were lost together and alone. Alone in the boiler room while the house creaked around them.

In that moment of watching Emmett and Rose kiss, so much in love, Edward thought back to the last time Bella had kissed him like that. Not too long ago, but long enough to see that Edward had somehow lost sight of Bella. The one person that he had waited for a century to find, he was unable to make the final commitment to have her for eternity. Why? Because he did not want her to lose her soul. If he would have just granted her one wish weeks earlier, they would not be trapped in this house right now, contemplating who had souls and who was worthy of death.

"Edward." A voice said from behind him. Emmett pulled Rose even closer to protect her.

Edward closed his eyes before turning around. He could recognize that voice anywhere, but right now, he wasn't sure what was real or what was not. The house could change things, according to Susan.

When Edward finally opened his eyes, he saw Jasper and Alice clinging to each other, but it was Bella, standing behind them, that shocked him. She was standing there, shaking, a shotgun in her hand as she stared at Edward. Edward was unable to tell if she was mad, angry, hurt, or relieved.

"Bella?" Edward asked, rubbing his eyes to make sure she was really there.

Bella walked into the room and kicked the door shut with her foot. For the first time in what felt like forever, they were all together. Bella tilted her head toward him and just looked at him as she let the gun slide from her hands as if it were the weight of the world, finally releasing its grasp. Edward looked at her and then closed the gap between them in seconds just as her legs gave out.

"Bella, it's okay," Edward held her close, rocking her. "I am so sorry that I left you. I promise, and this time it is a promise I will never break, I will never leave you again."

Bella cried, harder than Edward had every heard her cry before. Her body was shaking so hard, not because of Edward's cold frame but from fright.

Edward looked up to Alice and Jasper, wanting answers, but not really knowing where to start. "What happened?"

"I don't really know what happened," Jasper started, his arms wrapped tightly around Alice's waist, "All we know is that we were following Emmett and Rose down the stairs, and then they just vanished. We heard the door to the basement slam shut. I ran up and it was stuck, wouldn't budge. You and Bella never came down them. I guess you eventually made it down, though, since you're here now. But because of going in circles, Alice and I got lost and then we heard gunshots. We followed the sound and found Bella trapped in a hallway, shooting at some huge guy."

"Stewart," Bella said in between sobs.

Jasper nodded. "I went after Stewart and ripped his head off. Then he just disappeared. Nothing left of him. A voice around us told me that he didn't count."

Alice looked over to Emmett and Rose, noticing the tight embrace they were in. "I take it you two got lost, too." It was a statement, not a question.

Emmett just nodded. "We went down the stairs and fumbled into this room that belonged to some guy named Pete. I think he is Betty's son. He took a liking to Rose, insisting that she was his wife. He wasn't human either; nothing Rose did could make the guy leave her alone."

"Where were you?" Jasper asked, looking at Emmett.

"I was there, but it was like I was frozen or something. Like this Pete guy had control over me."

"What was he?" Alice asked.

Rose pulled her head off of Emmett's chest. "He wasn't human, that's for sure. If I had to guess, I'd say he is somewhat like us. His body was hard and cold. I spit into his eyes a couple of time and he never even flinched."

"What about you, Edward? What happened after you…left me?" Bella's eyes were locked onto Edward's. He brushed a piece of hair out of her face and tucked it around her ear.

"We will talk about it later. Right now, just know that we are okay. I found Rose and Emmett and you found me. The family is together now, the way it should be. Things down here are a little complicated, okay? I've only been gone –" Edward looked down at his watch. _That can't be right_. Edward tapped on it, he could hear the ticking sound. "Does anyone know what time it is?"

Jasper looked at his watch. "Almost 3:15."

The six of them let that sink in.

"That's impossible." Emmett said, breaking the silence, "We've only been down here thirty, forty minutes tops."

"My watch says 3:15, too." Rose said, looking down.

Bella started to rock on the floor, her sobs beginning to pick up. "I have been alone for four hours. I can't believe that you left me by myself for _four hours_, Edward." Bella would be hitting him right now, if she thought it would do any good.

Edward looked up to Jasper and Alice. "I thought she was with you?"

Jasper shook his head. "No, Alice and I just found her maybe ten minutes ago. When we found her, she was so beyond scared. Her heart was beating so fast, I am actually surprised that she didn't have a heart attack from being scared to death. I never felt that much fear off of anyone before."

"So you have your gift back?" Edward asked.

"No, I can't tell what any of you are feeling, only Bella's. And even then, only when the emotion is at an all time high."

Edward just nodded and then got up off the floor, shutting and locking the door behind them. He went to the other doors in the room and made sure they were locked as well.

He turned and looked at his family. "We are all alive. For now."

"What next, Edward?" Jasper and Emmett asked at the same time.

"Right now, we have to figure out how to survive the next three hours."


	13. The House 3:43 AM

**Chapter 12**

**3:43 AM**

It took them half an hour of speculation to figure out what _might_ have happened in the last several hours. Though they had at least nailed down the critical details – or so Edward hoped. Some of it seemed sketchy to him, but he knew that he could trust his family. After all, they were all he had left.

Even after grasping what had supposedly happened to each of them, they still really did not know _what _was happening.

What had sucked Edward into the black hall?

What had happened to Stewart's body?

Who was Susan and what had happened to her?

The whys were even worse. Why were the doors opening and closing on their own accord? Why couldn't any of them see their own reflections in the mirrors? Why hadn't the killer come after them in the basement? They were, after all, trapped down here. It would be easy for him to get to them, if that was what he really wanted.

"I can tell you that," Bella spoke up quietly. "He has come down here, you just don't know it."

Jasper frowned has he tried to make out an understanding of White. "So he has some psychological grip--."

"I'm not talking psychologically, I am talking physically. I've seen him," Bella's voice cut in, becoming stern.

"You what?" Alice asked with shock and surprise.

Bella sat down on one of the fifty-five gallon drums, the shotgun still in her hands. Looking at her family as their pacing came to a halt.

"Why did you not mention it sooner?" Edward asked, wondering why she had left out such an important detail.

"He came through the back door and padlocked it. Though, it's not like I could find it again anyway. Besides, the way I see it, we have bigger problems." Bella spoke in a calm voice.

"Like what?" Rose asked with a sneer, "What problems could we possibly have that are worse than the killer being down here with us?"

Bella tilted her head to the side, "Like, maybe getting out."

"You mean getting out alive, don't you, Bella?" Edward came over to his wife and put a hand on her shoulder, "We will all get out of here alive."

"To do that, we are going to need to know who our enemies are," Jasper spoke up, his background in the army becoming beneficial.

Bella stood up and pumped the gun to make sure it was locked and loaded. Edward stepped back trying to figure out when Bella had become so defensive and when she had learned how to use a gun.

"White's just one guy," Emmett said, his arms still around Rose, "I think we can take one guy. But I am curious, why did Stewart disappear?"

"Because we are hallucinating?" Rose questioned.

"We were not hallucinating," Alice said, "If that is the case, then why did all three of us see the same thing?"

No one had an answer for that. Edward began to pace. "Okay, let's take this methodically."

"I think that the question we should be asking is whether or not what seems to be happening is really happening," Jasper said, "The answer lays out the entire framework for how we deal with it."

"How's that?" Emmett asked.

"Okay, let's start with Rose," Jasper walked over to his sister, "The rotten dog food and the pudding. At first, you saw that it was pudding, then later you realized it was really rotten dog food. You allowed your eyes and your mind to change what you wanted to see or thought that you were seeing."

It didn't make much sense, but then again nothing down here did.

"Okay," Edward said. "I'll attempt to go with that. What else happened that could fall under this logic?"

"I cannot believe we are just sitting here when we—" Bella spoke up, miffed.

"Please, Bella, try to use more than your mouth. Just go with us here." Edward snapped at her.

Bella's eyes went wide to his reaction then narrowed to a glare, while her lips were clamped shut in a tight line. Edward had to hand it to her though; she had found some spunk since being trapped down in this basement. At least she wasn't in denial. He respected her for that. Then again, she never had run away from danger. She had always been the one that brought danger with her.

"Bella," Alice said kindly, "What if you thought you saw a lock on the door and walked away, when in actuality you could have walked out of it?"

Bella bit down on her lip. "I saw the padlock, I heard the click. He locked it."

"What about the shotgun?" Emmett asked, looking at the gun in Bella's hand.

Edward just shook his head, "the doors don't move an inch when we ram ourselves into them, I highly doubt that the shotgun will do the trick. Let's just think this through a little more."

Bella jumped up, "What is there to think through? Emmett is right, I say we try to use the gun."

"For starters, Bella, Jasper and Alice, pretty much just waltzed on down the stairs, seeing very little of what the rest of us had to go through. Stumbling across you, the doors opening and closing like they were guiding us all here. Does anyone else find it just a little bit strange that we all wind up here at the exact same time?" Edward said, looking at his family.

No one responded. They knew that Edward was right, something was strange about it, all of it.

Edward continued. "I agree that going for the door with the gun may be a good plan, if we can even find the door. But let's not go off half cocked. So let's think for a bit. What else have we seen that could just be in our minds?"

The house creaked above their heads and they all looked up.

After a moment, Jasper spoke up, moving his head up, "There. The wind's moving the house. We hear a groan, but our minds are already stretched to a breaking point, so we all expect more and look up," Jasper shrugged his shoulders, "Stress-induced deception, pure and simple."

"What about the mirrors?" Rose asked.

"They have to be trick mirrors," Jasper answered, "Pete told you that they used to travel with the circus. Did anyone specifically notice a reflection from anything as close to the mirror as you were? Edward?"

"You mean the foreground? Actually, now that you mention it, no. Bella and I couldn't see either of our reflections, but we could see the room from behind us."

Jasper just nodded. "I know for a fact that a mirror can be manufactured in such a way as to reflect no light within a certain distance."

Edward could feel strength entering the room as if it were a force field. They were beginning to have answers.

"Okay, what about Stewart's body disappearing?" Alice asked.

"Maybe it was more me," Bella spoke up quietly, "After Edward left, I panicked. So when I saw him, I just started firing. Jasper and Alice finding me probably didn't help either. So maybe my mind was not only playing tricks on me, it allowed me to play the same on Jasper and Alice."

Jasper really didn't buy it because he knew that he had killed Stewart. "Okay, so some of what we have seen was probably the product of stressed imagination. For all we know, Edward could have jumped through the tunnel."

Edward furrowed his brow together. "A strong draft…I suppose it's possible I just _thought_ I was being sucked in."

Emmett looked at Alice, Bella and Jasper. "Maybe you all saw Stewart's dead body because that is what you wanted or needed to see."

Jasper looked over to Alice who shrugged her shoulders, while Bella nodded her head in agreement. She was the one who had wanted him dead.

"Maybe," Jasper said.

Bella looked at them all. "What about the odor? It stinks down here, or at least it did."

"We've grown accustomed to it due to the stress that we have been under, so we don't notice the smell anymore." Edward walked over to Bella, "I'm sorry I snapped at you. My nerves are on end."

Bella reached up and pressed down lightly on the dark circles under his eyes. "It's okay. You're just grumpy because you need to feed."

"That's not an excuse, I have gone longer." Edward gave her a strong kiss and then backed away, beginning to pace across the concrete floor.

Edward took an unnecessary breath and rubbed his hands through his hair, trying to clear the cobwebs that were beginning to form in his mind. "Okay, let me get this straight and make sure that we are all on the same page. We were all taken off the road by a serial killer named White who has a thing for elaborate games. He's killed who knows how many people over the years and ends up in the backwoods of New Mexico where no one goes, other the occasional traveler. Good so far?"

Rose nodded her head and picked up where Edward left off. "We are not the first victims in this house. The last was Susan, who managed to escape. Our hosts are working with White, but this latest mess up – letting Susan get away, that is­­ – has changed their relationship, putting pressure on Betty. But that fits into White's game, because he wants the others to do his killing. He intends to force his victims to extract the penalty for sin themselves. How am I doing?"

"Give me one dead body," Emmett said.

"Rule number three," Edward mentioned.

"It's also what I thought I heard White say in the tunnels," Jasper said.

Rose looked at him. "You heard his voice? Another important detail that was left out."

"I _thought_ I heard his voice," Jasper clarified.

"Both Alice and I heard it as well," Bella added.

Jasper nodded, "Either way, you're right. He wants us to kill each other. That's the whole point, isn't it?"

It was. They all knew that by now, Edward thought. "So his plan all along was to get us into this house and lure us into the basement, which apparently is not really a basement at all. How do you explain the basement? I can't figure out the layout of this place."

"Tunnels, shafts, holding tanks…"Jasper pondered, "Maybe it was part of a mining operation back in the day and the house was built on top of it?"

"What kind of mining operation is there in the middle of New Mexico that would resemble this?" Emmett asked.

"Catacombs," Jasper replied, "Maybe it wasn't a mining operation, but was built for slaves or immigrants during the war. For all we know, the house could be built on some massive grave."

Emmett let out a small snicker which earned him a slap from Rose. "Can we please just focus? This isn't _Poltergeist_."

"It could be, Rose," Jasper said, "The point is White has been manipulating us from the beginning. He's got us locked down in the place with four other people. All of us forced to pick each other off. The last one alive gets to live…or something along those lines. Betty, Stewart, Pete and Susan are just as much so victims as we are, or at least right now they are."

"But they don't count," Bella said.

"What?" Edward asked.

"In the tunnel, after Jasper killed Stewart, something else the voice said."

Everyone stared at Bella and Jasper, waiting for one of them to continue.

"Why would they not count?" Edward asked.

"They are like him," Jasper ventured a guess, "On his team?"

But Susan said White's going to kill them for letting her go. One way or another, he intends to kill everyone tonight. Or have us kill each other."

"One down," Jasper said.

"Then we just have to kill Betty and Pete," Emmett said as he began to rub his hands together, ready to take down the guy that had hit Rose.

"No, I think we just need to get out of this house," Edward said, "We do have one advantage that White may not know about."

They all looked at each and knew what that advantage was; they were already dead.

"But if they get in the way, we kill them," Emmett said, "I guarantee you that if either of those perverts comes into my sight, they are as good as dead."

Rose looked at Emmett.

"What, Rose? You disagree?"

"No, just make sure that if you come across Pete, you save a piece for me. I'd love to rip his balls off," Rose said, while she watched her husband and brothers subconsciously cover their groan area.

"So we are going to get out, right?" Bella asked.

"With Stewart out of the way, we might have a chance," Jasper said.

"And when we get out, then what?" Alice asked, "Unless we disable White, he may still come after us."

"We could use the truck," Bella added, "drive out."

"The truck is trashed," Rose said and they knew that she was right.

"Then we will just have to make a run for it on foot out to the main road," Edward said, looking over to Bella and watching her bite down on her lip.

"Do you think there's any chance that someone has seen our cars and called them in?" Bella asked, "I mean, it's possible, right? That Lawson cop knew that we were taking this road. It's only a matter of time before he comes. The only question is can he get here before dawn?"

"We have to find Susan," Edward said absentmindedly. No one responded to him. "I'm dead serious. We can't just leave her here in this house."

"Well, that's a bit of a problem, isn't it?" Emmett asked. "We don't even know where Susan is. And if you are right, they will expect us to look for her. We have been playing right into White's hands. He's no idiot. Believe me, I can spot an idiot. He knows that someone is going to want to save the sweet little girl."

"What's your problem?" Alice said. "We can't just leave her!"

"Well, according to Jasper, he thinks that Betty and Pete are probably just as much so the victims here as we are. Do you suggest that we go off looking for them as well?"

"Well, Betty and Pete are also cold-hearted killers," Rose reminded her husband.

"There's no way we can find this girl down here," Bella said, looking at Edward, "You even said that she has been hiding down here for days!"

Edward knew that this family was right, finding her could be like finding the needle in a haystack. But to him, it just seemed wrong to leave her. She had helped Rose, Emmett and him to escape.

The sound of a long drawn out creaking could be heard resonating through the boiler room. Edward scanned the room, but couldn't find the source. It was as if the walls were made of wood instead of concrete and a strong wind from outside was pushing the planks slowly in one direction.

"You all are saying that was in my mind?" Bella asked.

Everyone stood at a standstill, eventually letting out the breaths that they had been holding.

"Something's wrong with this house," Emmett said, both Edward and Jasper could tell that he was about to lose it. "We need to get out and now!" Emmett began to walk to the door in which Jasper, Alice and Bella had come through.

"Wait, Emmett, we don't have a plan!" Edward said, putting a hand on his brother's shoulder, knowing that he had always been the one to act first, think later.

"We go for the doors, that's the plan."

"Which door? Who goes for which door? And what happens if something goes wrong? Just hold on a second."

Emmett turned and looked at his brother, the expression his face clearly told everyone that he had not thought any further than just going out the first door. Bella was also on her feet now, ready to follow Emmett. They all had the same want and need; to get out and to do it now.

The creaking returned, not quite as loud as before, but just as long. It was the most unnatural sound Edward had ever heard. He watched as Bella shivered at the sound.

Edward looked down at the gun Bella held tight in her hands, and then over to Emmett. "Do you think that gun will do the trick at whatever is making that noise?"

"Just stop it, you guys," Rose said, screaming, "We are not dealing with ghosts here, for Christ's sake! Act like adults!"

Bella stood in front of Rose, the one person that had always been the riff in her and Edward's relationship. "Then what are we dealing with? Mass hysteria?"

Rose let out a deep sigh, "I don't know, the pipes maybe! The house above us is moving in the wind. It has a web of rusted pipes underneath. How should I--."

"The sounds are not coming from the pipes; they are coming from the walls!" Bella yelled back.

"Sound travels!"

"And those cuts around your wrists? You still think that those are incidental?" Bella asked, pointing down to Rose's wrists.

Rose looked down, rubbing her hands where the leather straps had held her into place on the dart board. "They should have healed by now."

"Exactly, Rose," Bella let out a sigh of relief that she might be actually making a point, "I don't know what we are dealing with and neither do any of you. And yet some of you insist that there is _zero_ chance that we are dealing with something supernatural here. Are you all willing to bet my life on that? Because I know that you are all safe, but me, I am the sitting duck here, not you."

Edward walked over to Bella and placed his hand around her waist. She leaned into his cold embrace, sobbing freely. He knew that she was beyond scared, they all were. But what she said was right; they truly did not have a clue as to what they were dealing with. Vampires, werewolves, fine, they knew how to take care of those. But if there were some other supernatural force at work here, they could all be sitting ducks.

Jasper finally broke the silence. "Fine, so maybe there is something going on here that we cannot explain without ripping the house to shreds. Call it supernatural if you want, but having all of us running around thinking some evil spirit is hot on our heels will only hurt us in the end. We need to keep a level head."

"I plan on keeping my head!" Bella let out a cry from Edward's chest, "Which means, I _need_ to get out of here!"

Edward thought it was time to step in and intervene before Bella really did lose her head. He looked at Jasper, the only one in the group who has been to the school of Psychology. "So, are you saying that there could _maybe_ be something wrong with this house, supernaturally? Because that is what Susan said."

"Just spit it out Edward, do you think that the house is haunted?" Jasper asked, all eyes now on Edward.

Edward nodded and swallowed hard, he knew that by making the suggestion he would be opening Pandora's Box. "If White knows this house is haunted because it was once used to house slaves or immigrants who may have been slaughtered here, or whatever - which you yourself admitted was possible, Jasper, even though we don't understand it - then would it not be in our best interest to know how to deal with a haunted house?"

His family looked at him, Emmett's lips curled, trying hard not laugh.

"You all better not even think about laughing. I know and understand supernatural," Bella spoke up, "All of you should not be here right now, but you are. I think Edward might be onto something."

Edward squeezed her hand and continued. "I know that it might sound stupid, but is it not what we are talking about? We understand about the killer, or at least as much as we can understand serial killer, and we understand Betty and the others. We have a plan to try and blow up the doors and run for the main road, but what about this house?"

"Edward, are you saying that you think the house is trying to keep us here, trying to not let us out?" Alice asked him.

"I don't believe in haunted houses," Emmett huffed, still hellbent on just walking out of here.

"Well, neither do I," Rose said, looking at her husband, "But that does not dismiss the fact that this house is…unusual. Now if I understand Edward's question, we need to figure out how to deal with a haunted house."

No one said anything. It was clear that they were still trying to grasp the idea of the house holding them hostage, that it was, in fact, haunted.

"Does anyone have any holy water?" Bella said sheepishly.

They all shook their heads; there had never been any need to carry around a vile of holy water, or a crucifix, for that matter.

"What does haunted even mean?" Emmett asked. "All the movies make it out to mean ghosts. You appease the ghost and make it move on, or you get rid of it."

"We can't exactly call the Ghostbusters, Emmett." Rose commented.

The creaking sound came again, louder than before and lasting even longer. They stopped talking and just listened, looking at one another without offering their two cents as to what was making the noise.

"Pipes," Rose said when the noise ceased.

No one agreed or disagreed.

"We go for the back door first," Edward said, looking at Bella, "Do you think you can remember how to get there?"

Bella bit down on her lip, "I think so."

Edward nodded. "If we get separated and can't get out, we meet back here."

"And if one of us gets out?" Emmett asked.

"Run and don't look back. Go for the main road and call for help and be sure to call Carlisle."

"Okay and what if we can't get out the back door?" Alice asked.

"Then we go to the main staircase and get out that door."

"Rip heads off on sight?" Emmett asked.

Edward nodded, reaching over to take the gun from Bella's hand, her grip tightened on it. "Bella, please, let me hold the gun. I don't want you to get hurt."

Bella's eyes opened with shock, her whole body beginning to tremble. Jasper began to pick on Bella's fear and anxiety.

"Edward," Jasper warned his brother, "She won't let go. She feels like that gun is her life line right now. Just let her hang on to it."

Edward nodded and then turned to his wife, cupping her face into his hands. "Bella, look at me." Bella looked into Edward's now dark eyes. "If we run into anyone other than family or Susan and you need to shoot, just aim and fire."

Bella nodded slightly. Emmett pounded his fists together. "Alright, let's do this thing."

Emmett led them to the door through which Bella, Jasper, and Alice had come, his guard up. Rose was right behind him; followed by Alice, Jasper, and Bella with Edward taking up the rear, just like before.


	14. The House 3:53 AM

Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

**3:53 AM**

The Cullen family walked quickly and quietly in single file with Emmett leading the way and Edward bringing up the rear.

The moment they entered the tunnel where Jasper, Bella and Alice had last seen Stewart, Emmett felt the surge of confidence that had helped Edward fight off Pete and save Rose, letting them all escape. Bella, on the other hand, felt as though she were walking to her death. The shot gun was locked and loaded, ready to fire at any given second. Bella knew that she had eleven shells left. She had learned a few things tonight, holding that gun made it plain to her that it was not easy to pull the trigger, but her life depended on it.

_"Just aim and shoot," Charlie said, holding Bella's hand at the firing range, "You are in control of the gun. Always remember that, Bella."_

Bella shook her head to clear it of Charlie's presence, he did not belong here with her and Cullen's, but she took the words to heart. She was in control.

Jasper agreed with Alice that it was only about five minutes back down the tunnel to where they had found Bella and Stewart. They were all trying to move slowly and quietly, which they were. To Edward, it was _too_ quiet. He began to miss the sounds of everyone's thoughts in his head, something he had thought he would never say.

"Stop," Jasper said barely a whisper, but Emmett heard him and halted his movements.

"What?" Emmett turned to look at Jasper.

"This is where I killed him," Jasper nodded down to the concrete, his expression changing on his face.

"What is it, Jasper?" Edward asked, circling around Jasper.

"It's still gone."

"Let's just get out of here," Rose snapped, "It is giving me the creeps."

Bella nodded to her left and Emmett cut his way over another riser and into the adjoining passage. Fifty feet and to the right. Through the door that Bella had smacked into a little while ago, which was now open, allowing light into what had been a dark space.

"That door is the closet where I found the gun," Bella spoke, her voice low.

Emmett reached out and turned the handle, locked. He turned to look at Bella for an answer as to an explanation.

"That door leads to the passage with the back door." Bella said.

"So what do we do now?" Alice asked as she linked her arm with Jasper's.

"How about we try to ram it or blast the door open?" Emmett suggested.

Edward nodded and the three guys backed up the hall and ran at full force right into the door. The door bounced them off and threw them back onto their bottoms. Bella walked in front of the door and held the gun high, aiming at the door.

"Bella, wait, they might hear us," Edward said, jumping to his feet.

Bella shrugged her shoulders, the guys running into the door had sounded like a cannon going off. A gunshot couldn't be any louder than that had been. "Maybe, but we are insulated by a lot of dirt beyond the concrete walls. And there is a utility closet on the other side of this door. I think we might be okay."

Before anyone could object, Bella lifted the gun, put the barrel about a foot from the handle and…

"Ready?" Bella asked as she pulled the trigger…._Boom!_

Bella moved her head down and pressed her ear to her shoulder; the shot had been much louder than she thought it would be. But at least it had worked.

Bella backed up, pleased, "There you go."

They all walked into the utility closet and listened. Nothing. Then again, all of their ears were ringing.

"Come on," Bella began to walk through the room, "this way."

"I'm not going," Edward said, his family turned and looked at him, Bella being the last one to let her eyes look into his.

"What do you mean you are not going?" Bella asked, her voice was laced with something that Edward has never heard, fear or hatred, annoyance maybe. "The door is right--."

Edward walked over to Bella and reached his hand out toward her, but she backed away. "Show me the way. I have to at least try to find Susan first. I promised her."

"You promised me first," Bella replied, "I should take precedence over a little girl."

Emmett reached for the door after Edward, Japer and he had a silent conversation. They were in the passageway with the back exit visible fifty feet to the left when they heard the muffled voices.

All the girls gasped while their mates pulled them close, wrapping their hands around their mouths to stifle any screams that might come out. Down the hall, past the door that led into the large study that held the desk, the pentagram, and the mirror that didn't work, was Betty.

"Hurry," Emmett turned and ran toward the exit, but a hand snagged his elbow.

"Just give me a minute," Edward whispered. "Susan has to be with her."

"Edward, are you crazy? We are right here. Let's just leave," Emmett growled back.

"You have to wait. All I need is few minutes."

Emmett looked at the rest of his family, defeated. He knew that there was no way they could leave an innocent child behind. All the times that they had fought for Bella, getting a little girl out of the house should be much easier.

"Hurry!" Emmet hissed.

Edward turned and started back to the room. "Wait," Bella called out, "I am going with you."

Edward turned and looked at his wife; the pained expression in her eyes began to tear at him, but he knew that she would be safer here. If something were to go wrong, he might not be able to save the both of them.

He walked over to Bella and pulled her into a tight embrace. "Stay here with Emmett."

Bella pulled away and looked at him. "No, don't leave me."

Edward looked up to Alice who quickly came over to Bella's side.

"Bella, I will stay with you and Emmett while Rose and Jasper go for Susan," Emmett stepped closer to Alice and Bella, putting his arms around their shoulders.

"Good, let's go," Edward nodded to Jasper and Rose.

"I don't like this, Alice," Bella said, clinging to both her and Emmett as they watched the others disappear behind the door at the other end of the tunnel.

"It'll be fine. We just have to wait here for a couple of minutes." Alice said, reaching up to brush back Bella's hair.

"Shhh," Emmett said, walking toward the door that the rest of the family had gone through and then back again, beginning to pace. "Let's try to stay quiet. I don't want anyone to hear us."

The door behind him suddenly opened. Emmett heard Bella grunt and whirled around. Pete was there, with one arm wrapped around Bella's neck and the other hand covering her mouth, dragging her backwards through the door. Alice was biting and snarling at Pete to let go of Bella, but nothing fazed him. A loud _clank_ sounded on the concrete floor and Emmett went to retrieve the shotgun that Bella just dropped.

He leveled it at Bella and Pete and was within an inch of putting a full load of buckshot in the man's gut, but hesitated as he realized that there was no clear shot. Not without hurting Bella in the process, at least.

Emmett lowered the gun as Pete and Bella disappeared behind the door. Alice was at Emmett's side in a split second, looking at him like he had gone crazy.

"Why didn't you shoot, attack, _something?" _Alice screeched in her high tone pixie voice. "Oh, God, Edward is going to kill us! But I will be sure to tell him to take care of you first!"

Alice began to pace back and forth, saying the same thing over and over, "Edward's going to kill us. Edward's going to kill us."

"Alice, shut up!" Emmett boomed as loud as he was willing to let his voice rise in the contained tunnel, "I did not have a clear shot and you don't know him. That was the same guy that attacked Rose."

Alice came to a stop, turned around and then stared at Emmett's face to see if he was speaking the truth.

"The same guy that between Edward, Rose and you, you could not kill?" Emmett just nodded his head as Alice's eyes began to grow wider.

They both snapped their heads up when they heard Bella scream through Pete's fingers. They could hear a grunt followed by silence.

The sound of a door slamming rippled around them.

"What do we do?" Alice asked, looking at her brother.

Emmett took hold of Alice's hand and then walked through the door that had just slammed shut. He was determined that he would finish the job of killing Pete this time, or would die trying. He was not about to go meet up with Edward minus Bella.

Alice poked her head into the hallway. Two directions. Neither one could tell which way they went, but Emmett knew better. Chances were, Pete was on his way back to his room. Emmett nodded to the right and the two of them flew down the hall at a non-human pace. Now who was hunting whom?

A left ahead. They took it without skipping a beat.

Just then, two thoughts rushed through Emmett's mind, like a twin blast from a double-barreled shotgun, and drilled a hole through his chest that he hadn't felt since he and Rose were last together with Pete.

FEAR.

Emmett slowed his pace, making Alice slam into his back. Somewhere ahead, Bella screamed again. Pete had let go of her mouth, which more than likely meant he made it to his room.

"What are you doing?" Alice hissed, "Why we moving so slow? We need to get to Bella. If he ends up trying to hurt her - or worse - we will need to be there!"

Resolve hit Emmett and his body again began to fly around corners and through doors and finally at the last corner stood the door, brimming with yellow light. The hall disappeared around another corner, but he knew that this was the same one as before.

He approached the door cautiously. Shock and awe, that was the plan. He tightened the grip on the shotgun, trying to remember to control his strength or it would be a pile of toothpicks.

"Please…" Alice and Emmett could hear Bella's muffled pleading beyond the door. "Please, I'll do anything."

"You can be my wife," Pete said.

Bella didn't respond.

Emmett leaned forward, listening. He didn't know where in the room they were, and the cracks were too narrow to give him any real view. If Bella could distract him…

"Can you put that down?" Bella asked.

Emmett pulled back, looking at the door. He had a gun, strength and a sister that could fight with the best of them.

"I want you to eat the cereal," Pete said.

"This cereal?" Bella asked.

"It will make you strong like me."

Alice and Emmett could hear the hesitation in Bella and her mournful cries.

"What are we waiting for, Emmett?" Alice asked so low only he would hear.

"I am waiting for the right moment."

The two of them continued to listen, waiting.

"You sure?" Bella asked.

"Oh, yes. Rose was a bad girl."

"Rose wouldn't eat your cereal?"

"Rose was a bad girl."

"But if I eat your cereal, then I will be a good girl?" Bella asked, her voice cracking.

"You will be my wife."

"And you will be good to me?"

Alice nudged Emmett in the ribs. "What is she doing?" Alice mouthed.

"Playing his game." Alice just rolled her eyes.

"If you want to be strong like me, you will need to eat your cereal because you are guilty," Pete said.

Again, Alice looked at Emmett, confused by the conversation they were hearing. He just shrugged his shoulders.

"Guilty?" Bella asked. "Okay, see?"

Emmett and Alice looked at each other, the same realization in their eyes: Bella was eating it. Emmett put his hand on the knob and turned it just a fraction of an inch. It wasn't locked. He pushed against it slightly and noticed that there were no deadbolts either.

Bella was now sobbing, softly and continuously.

"You will be so strong," Pete said.

Emmett went then, because he knew that any red-blooded male into eating rotten dog food would have his complete attention on Bella.

Pete stood with a bowl in his hands, staring at Bella, who had three fingers in her mouth. He face streaked with tears.

Emmett pulled the trigger. _Boom!_ A buckshot tore into Pete's side and he dropped the bowl. But he didn't fall.

Alice ran to Bella's side and swiped her up into her arms. Emmett pumped the action. Another load. _Boom!_

This one put Pete down to his knees.

"Come on," Emmett yelled out to his sister, "Let's go."

Bella hung onto Alice for dear life as they quickly followed Emmett out of the room. It occurred to Emmett that he had not pumped the gun for another round, so he did it quickly before turning the corner that would lead them back to the exit, not realizing that his sisters were not behind him. But that was as far as he got.

Emmett wasn't alone in the tunnel. The man with the tin mask was there. Facing him. Twenty yards up the passage, with his hands by his sides, trench coat at his ankles, staring through those jagged holes in his faceplate.

A wave of sickness washed through Emmett's gut, he wanted to jerk the trigger on the gun and put a hole through the man's face, rip him to shreds even, but he could not move.

And there was no sign of Alice or Bella.

"Hello, Emmett," White spoke. "You are like me. That is why you are going to win this game."

Emmett listened to White, but kept his ears perked for the girls. Where were they?

"I need a dead body," White said, "I think Edward or Jasper will try to kill you. After all, look at what you were not able to do."

Emmett rubbed his hand over his face as his vision swarmed. White's neck twitched.

"One body, Emmett. Give me one body before they kill you."

"I…I just can't kill my family, we are already dead—"

"If you don't kill the girl, then you will see how dead you really are."

_Her? _Emmett couldn't think straight. "Bella?"

"Even the innocent are guilty, Emmett."

Alice and Bella came to a halt after losing sight of Emmett. They knew that he would come back looking for them so they decided to stay put.

"Alice, put me down," Bella said, her throat hoarse.

Against Alice's better judgment, she put Bella on her feet. Bella's stomach swam in revulsion from eating the paste, but it was a sickly sweet revulsion. Like chewing on the worm at the bottom of a tequila bottle. No, worse. Much worse. It was like sucking up someone else's vomit. But the vomit was laced with a hallucinogen that had sent pleasure running along her nerves.

Her revulsion was more for herself, though. For her willingness to do whatever Pete asked of her. Anything. But was that not what she had been doing for the past two years since meeting the Cullens? Willing to make any sacrifice if it meant protecting the ones that she loved?

It hit her then, that she did what came naturally. Her sickness, her sin, putting herself in front of everyone else no matter the cost; even if that cost was her life. The realization nauseated her to no end.

Some of the paste was still lodged in her throat. Suddenly, the sickly sweetness of it all was only sickly. Bella turned away from Alice, bent over and threw up. Alice moved closer to Bella and held her hair out of her face.

"Emmett?" Alice called out as they began to walk father down the tunnel in the direction in which he went, backtracking back to the exit.

They finally caught up to him, Emmett stood with his back toward them, shotgun in one hand, pointed at the ground. He turned and looked at them. For a moment, Alice thought he looked different.

"You coming?"

Alice and Bella quickly met up with Emmett, who had jogged ahead.

When they reached the hall where Pete had abducted Bella, the door in which the rest of the family had gone through was wide open. Emmett looked up to the exit door and it was still padlocked. No sign of them.

"Come on," Emmett said, running toward the exit. "When we get outside we run straight for the forest, not for the front of the house," he said. "We get some cover, and then figure out how to get back to the main road, okay?"

Alice and Bella just looked at Emmett. That was part of the plan, but what about everyone else? None of them answered.

Emmett lifted the gun to his shoulder, aimed at the padlock and pulled the trigger.

"Let's go!"

Emmett jumped up on the landing and ripped off the twisted lock easily. The door swung open. They'd made it?

He whirled back around, grabbing hold of Bella and Alice's elbows and pulling them roughly through the doorway, to the outside.

Only they weren't quite outside yet. In fact, they weren't outside at all.

Bella blinked, but what she saw did not change.

"Are we where I think we are?" Alice asked.

"If you are asking if we are back in the boiler room, then yes," Emmett said.

The door slammed shut behind Alice and Bella.

Bella dropped down to her knees. "Oh God, oh God, oh God!"


	15. The House 3:59 AM

**Chapter 14**

**3:59 AM**

Edward eased down to one knee by the door and felt Rose bump into him from behind. She drew close to his face and by the look in her eyes, he immediately knew that something was wrong.

"They're gone!" Edward and Jasper both followed her gaze down the hall. They'd left Emmett, Bella and Alice less than a minute ago with a promise from Emmett that they would wait for them to return. But there was no sign of Emmett, Bella or Alice. The back exit was still closed.

A distant, muffled cry reached Edward. Bella! Someone had taken her? Pete or White.

For a moment, he was torn between giving chase and going after Susan, who he was sure waited behind this door. Emmett was also now missing, believed that he and Alice had gone after Bella.

They would continue to go after Susan.

Edward had thought about the matter while bringing up the rear on their walk through the tunnels. The more he thought about Susan, the more he equated her with his own love, Bella. It was their innocence, not their age, that bound them.

He was still unsure if he would be able to save Bella from this life of a monster, but he would do everything in his power to save Susan. He'd always be a stubborn, loyal guy, but his resolve to save this girl now, in the midst of such chaos, surprised even him.

He'd stopped and looked Jasper and Rose in the eye, backing them both into a corner of the tunnel, "I can't leave Susan. I'm going to find out where the exit is and then go after her."

"We'll go with you," Jasper said.

"No," Edward replied, his voice stern.

"Yes," Rose said, crossing her arms over her chest defiantly, "Edward, you can't do this alone. Bella would never forgive us if something happened to you."

Edward just nodded. Now here they were, going after Susan, with the surprising fortune of locating Betty quickly. They did not know if that was a good thing or bad thing, but they were about to find out.

Rose crouched and leaned against the back wall, watching Jasper and Edward.

"It makes no sense," Betty said beyond the door, "Not a lick of sense. Why would anyone risk their necks for you? They won't come."

"Edward will," Susan's voice sang out.

"They still don't have a clue what they are in for. You know that, don't you? They'll all be dead in a couple of hours."

"Then so will you."

Edward heard a slap, making the rumble in his chest build. Jasper placed a hand on his shoulder, but it did not do any good.

He nearly went in then but he hadn't really formulated a plan. He very carefully cracked the door open a slight bit.

The study, as he and Bella had called it, lay just as he remembered it with the lone desk and the large mirror. Betty faced the mirror with her back to Edward. She had a brush in her hand and was working it through Susan's long, tangled hair.

Betty jerked Susan around to face her. "You don't think I know a thing or two about killing? The guilty die. That means White isn't beyond being killed if it comes down to it. He may have done what he did to bring the house alive, but let's not forget who was here first."

"You will be dead by morning," Susan said.

Edward was waiting for the slap, but this time it never came. Instead, Betty put the brush to Susan's hair and tugged. "That's long past your dead time, honey. You're right; they are coming for you. But it is not what they think."

Edward and Jasper knew that they should have gone in and taken Susan right then, but the words were gripping and they were beginning to get somewhat of an understanding as to what was going on, but it was all still in code.

"They are stronger than you," Susan said, her voice calm.

"If they are so strong, they wouldn't be fooled by you, now would they? They don't know if they are coming or going. And they do not know what the real game is."

Rose stood up and leaned against her brothers to get a better hearing of the conversation. "What are they talking about?" Rose asked, looking over to Edward, "What is the real game?"

Edward placed a finger to her lips to quiet her, his mind racing. Could any of Betty's words be true? Was it possible that Susan was actually with White?

"I don't see what anyone would see in this pretty soft face, anyway." Betty was squeezing Susan' cheeks and they were both looking at the mirror. Which was odd. "I don't care what White says, we should have killed you the day you set foot in this house."

Betty squeezed tighter and tighter on Susan's face.

Susan began to whimper.

Edward pulled back, taking in unnecessary breaths.

"So, is she with us?" Rose asked, she and Jasper both looking at Edward.

"Jasper, can you get a feeling off of her?" Edward asked, looking over at Jasper while he shook his head. "Who do you trust: Susan who risked her life a few moments ago or crazy Betty?"

"But she hasn't killed Susan," Jasper said

Edward thought for a moment. "Betty must have some reason to keep her alive."

"It could be part of the game, Edward," Rose said quietly.

"No! We cannot just leave her, even if she is part of the game. I am going in."

"Edward, she is just a _human_, let it rest," Rose said.

Edward stared at his sister. _That was low_, he thought. "And what about Bella? You have said the same thing about her. Even though you act like you two are fine, I know the truth," Edward pointed to his head.

"Okay, you two need to stop. We are starting to play right into White's hands by making us split up," Jasper said, looking back and forth between his brother and sister.

Rose glanced at the door and huffed, "Fine. Be careful."

"We will be right here, ready to come in if something goes wrong," Jasper said, gripping Edward's shoulder.

Edward took a deep breath before gently pushing through the door and running into the room.

But Betty was already whirling around, using Susan as a shield. Instead of holding a brush, she now had a knife to Susan's throat. Susan looked at Edward, the corner of her mouth lifted ever so slightly.

"It is about time," Betty snarled, the corners of her mouth held a hint of a smile.

"Don't," Susan said.

Rose stepped out of the doorway and came to Edward's side; Jasper was on his other side.

"Kill her, Edward," Rose said.

"Don't come any closer or I will slice her neck open," Betty said.

"Then what?" Edward asked, taking a step closer, his jaw tight and his eyes growing darker. "Huh? Then what, you sick excuse for a woman? I will make sure you never stand up again, how's what?"

Betty backed up, dragging Susan with her. "You can't let me kill her, you know that. She is the only thing keeping you alive! She is part of the game. You will see, I swear you will."

"Don't listen to her, Edward!" Susan said.

Betty flicked her knife and Susan gasped. Blood seeped from the thin cut on her chin. Jasper immediately began to lunge forward until Rose took hold of him. The smell of the blood was enticing to all of them; none of them had hunted in a while. All three vampires looked at Susan and then back to Betty who started to talk again.

"What is the matter, scared of a little blood? I also noticed that you couldn't get out the back door, no sense in trying."

Jasper moved closer to Betty, walking around to her right.

"I don't know what you think this sick game is about, but Stewart is dead and White can try his hardest to kill us," Jasper said, "But I got news for you, my brothers and sisters and I are already dead. Some of us have been dead for a century. We have been playing nice, but now that you are thinking of endangering an innocent child, it needs to end."

Betty's mouth turned up right. "Oh, you think Stewart is dead? You may have ripped his head off, but he is stronger than all of you."

Edward stepped an inch closer. "Drop the knife," he said slowly, "If you hurt her, I promise you that you will be the next to die and it will be long and painful. Now let her go."

"We should all be thinking of killing White," Rose said, "He is the one that set this whole thing in motion."

Betty's eyes skipped to Rose. Edward and Jasper kept inching ever so slowly over to Betty. They would need to act quick, but Edward was beginning to think that it would be harder than they could imagine. Any other time or place, he would have had his power, to be able to communicate with his siblings on who would take what side. Plus there was still the chance that in the process, if they didn't move fast enough, Betty could still kill Susan.

Rose kept walking closer to Betty, confident the whole time, working on distracting Betty enough for her brothers to get Susan away. Edward looked over at his sister noticing that her eyes were getting darker, she was here for revenge.

"Rose?" Edward said.

"What makes you think you can shove your twisted world down a little boy's throat and not pay for it, huh?" Rose asked in a bitter hiss full of venom. _On the edge of snapping,_ Edward thought, knowing that she was talking about Pete. Edward knew better than anyone what Rose was capable of when it came to revenge. After her change, she had gone straight to Royce and the others that had violated her. Right now, she saw Betty and Pete in the same fashion.

"Rose…" Jasper tried to send out waves of calm. He did not want Susan to be there to witness the attack.

"You are guilty, Betty. You are guilty and your sins are about to find you as well," Rose said, still walking over to Betty, her stance getting closer and closer to attack mode.

Rose walked right up to Betty and then past her. Betty's face was drawn tight, her eyes never once leaving Rose, watching her like a hawk. It was the first time since coming to the house that Edward had seen Betty stripped of confidence.

"You believe in hell, Betty? Because I sure do. I been there and back, even lived there for a while. But I realize right now, that I don't belong in hell, never did. Looking at you, I see that hell was made for people like you and your son. You can either join us and get rid of White or we can take you out so fast you will not even know what hit you," Rose lifted her eyebrows and looked deep into Betty's eyes, "How is that for a game?"

Edward was now about eight feet away from Betty, Jasper a tad bit closer. The only thing that stood in their way was the knife that was digging tighter to Susan's neck, a tiny trail of blood dripping from it.

Betty's eyes circled the three vampires around her, finally ending on Rose for the final time. Betty dropped the knife to the floor and released Susan, who ducked out of the way and ran to the right side of the room.

"Listen to me, Edward," Susan said, spinning back to look Edward in the eye, "He who has ears…can you hear me?"

"Okay, you win," Betty said, "I know..."

"Kill her, Edward," Rose said, "If you don't, I will not hesitate to do it myself."

Susan was speaking as well, but the voices of everyone telling him what to do was spinning in his head so fast.

"…how to kill White," Betty said, "I can show you…"

"Kill her!" Rose screamed.

"…how to kill him."

Susan finished a long run-on. "And if that doesn't make sense, it's really not supposed to."

Edward's brow furrowed together in confusion as he turned and looked at Rose and Susan. The only one in the room that was silent was Jasper. "What?" Edward asked.

"What what?" Rose asked.

"What is she saying? Susan," Edward said.

Rose and Jasper both turned to look at the girl. "Nothing," Jasper said.

Silence fell around them and the room. Betty's head jerked spastically for the length of a second and then her smile returned. Edward's nerves were strung tight and for the first time since entering the house, Jasper began to feel an emotion from someone other than himself. Or had Edward seen more? Now he began to think that his mind was playing tricks on him.

He tried quickly to summarize the present scenario. Rose on his right, insisting that he tear Betty apart, limb to limb, creating a bloody bath. Susan on his left, staring at him in shock. Betty in the middle, hands raised by her head, smiling nervously. Jasper behind Betty, waiting to help Edward at any given moment.

"Kill her!" Rose snarled.

Edward looked up to Jasper as he picked up a spade used in gardening and held it high above his head. Edward gave him the slightest nod, that not even Betty would be able to notice. Jasper swung. He heard a crack. This time, it was Betty's skull and not the wood splintering like it had on Pete's head. The blade of the spade hit Betty with enough force to send her reeling into the mirror five feet behind her. The glass shattered on impact.

Betty dropped to the floor and landed on her bottom. A trickle of blood ran from her ear.

They all stared; not quite believing it had been that easy. Black fog seeped from the wound.

"It's the same," Jasper said, walking over to join his siblings.

"This is bad," Rose said quietly, taking in the fog that was beginning to fill up the room.

"Follow me!" Susan said, "Run!" She ran toward the door that led into the rooms with the four sofas.

Edward spied the shotgun laying against the wall, the same one that Betty had used in Pete's room. He quickly snatched it up as he followed Susan out of the room.

"Out the back!" Rose cried, "Susan…"

"No, Susan's right," Edward said, on the heels of Rose and Jasper, "We are closer to the main stairs. Come on!" This time, he realized that shooting of the locks were faster then trying to ram the door.

Edward ran after Susan, who was just peeling into the main hall with the stairs when he spun into the living room. His siblings just a foot ahead of him.

In that hall was a flight of stairs that led up to the main floor. If Bella was right and White was, in fact, in the basement, they would be safest up at in the main level of the house. They could exit from there and then go in the woods, just as they had planned, to find help. The gun in his hands appeared to not have any trouble with locks, unlike his vampire strength.

If any of them still had a heartbeat it would be racing right now, know that they would be getting out.

If there was a God, Edward prayed that he had allowed Emmett to get Alice and Bella out of the house already and that they were all waiting in the nearest town, speaking to Carlisle.

Edward spilled into the hall and almost ran over Susan, who had stopped and was staring in the opposite direction and not at the staircase.

"Come on, go!" Jasper said, bringing up the rear.

Rose screamed.

Edward, who was beginning to plant his first step on the stair, turned and saw that she, too, was now staring at the far end of the hall, her face whiter than normal. Jasper came to a stop behind Rose while Edward turned to see what they were all looking at.

"One dead body!" he said, his voice sounding dead behind the mask, "And the old hag doesn't count."

White started to walk toward them.

"Follow me!" Susan cried out. She flung open the door directly across the hall and ran through.

White's gun boomed. The load hit the door behind Susan, slamming it shut. If history was any judge of past events, it was now more than likely locked.

"Shoot him, Edward!" Rose cried out.

In all of his lifetime, Edward had never had to resort to using a gun, neither as a human nor a vampire. Edward went on instinct and jerked the gun up and fired a wild shot into the wall. Not used to the handling of it, all he began to think about now was getting up to the stairs and out of this basement. White's shotgun rose.

"Hurry!" Edward said.

Jasper lept to the stairs and took them three at a time with Rosalie following right behind him, Edward taking up the rear. They didn't have Susan, Edward knew that, but he also knew that they would all be coming close to possibly finding another way to die if they did not get past this door.

_Boom!_ White's shot tore into the shiplap siding beside him.

Edward pumped another round into the gun and then threw it up to Jasper who was now waiting at the head of the door. Jasper aimed at the door latch and pulled the trigger even before his foot was firmly planted on the landing.

The blast from the shock knocked Jasper back down the stairs into Rose and Edward, who quickly caught him and then shoved him upwards as all three of them reached the door. It had released from the shattered locking mechanism and swung open almost freely.

"Go, go!" Jasper stood to the side as he waited for Rose and Edward to go through first.

Edward dived through the door, tripping on the riser and sprawled out on his chest onto the floor. Rose was right behind him. Jasper was hung up behind them, trapped momentarily by the door, which had bounced off the adjacent wall hard enough to swing shut.

"Jasper!" Edward yelled.

In just a matter of seconds, Jasper plowed in and pulled up. He took in the room in wonder, ignoring Rose and Edward.

"What…what is this?" he asked.

A door to Edward's right suddenly swung open. Emmett, Alice and Bella ran through. Bella was completely out of breath. All of their eyes wide in disbelief.

It was then that Edward looked around as the rest of the room came into clear view. And it was not the hallway he expected to see.

They were back in the boiler room.

"Oh God, oh God, oh God!" Bella began to mumble. Edward caught her by the waist just as she was about to fall to the floor.


	16. The House 4:25 AM

**Chapter 15**

**4:25 AM**

The boiler room had changed. Rose noticed it almost immediately. Large red letters had been scrawled on the walls.

_The wages of sin is one dead body._

Emmett's nostrils began to flare with rage. Bella's eyes flittered with fear. Whatever happened to them had changed them, she thought. Her own mind was in a meltdown; she knew it, but it did not preclude her from judging others. Of the six of them, it was only Edward that still seemed the same. Bella fell into his embrace, taking in his sweet scent.

Bella was thankful that Edward still appeared to be intact. If anyone would be able to get them out of the horrible house, she knew it would be him.

"Give me the gun," Emmett snapped out, glaring at Jasper.

"This is wrong, so wrong," Alice said from Jasper's side.

"Give me the gun," Emmett said, holding out his hand toward Jasper.

Rose walked in a wide circle, her legs actually feeling numb, staring at the large lettering on the wall. "How's this possible? I don't understand. Something spiritual is happening, isn't it?"

Bella stood up with the help of Edward. "Wait a minute. I thought you all did not believe in anything spiritual?"

"I don't," Rose said, walking over to place a hand on Emmett's arm to calm him. She had never seen this side of him before and it was beginning to scare her. "But the house seems to know what we are going to do before we do it! And it knows _us!"_

"Know us?" Jasper asked.

Rose looked at each and every one one of her siblings, both old and new, her mind beginning to work in overdrive as if pieces of a puzzle were beginning to fit into place. "Our weaknesses. Our Fears. The sin we—"

"Give me the gun!" Emmett roared, lifting his own shotgun that he had taken from Bella a short while ago.

Rose became enraged at the way her husband was acting. "Stop it, now!"

"I don't trust them anymore," Emmett snarled at Edward and Jasper as they looked at Emmet bewildered.

"Don't you all see what is going on?" Alice asked, stepping in between her brother and husband. "We are right back in the boiler room, and we are beginning to turn on each other. We are starting to wear ourselves down. What we once thought was impossible might very possibly happen. Rose is right; the house knows what it is doing. Our minds are wearing us down, knowing what haunts us."

"I see that," Emmett said loudly, "but I still don't trust them."

Bella blinked wildly at Alice and Rose, the girls being the only ones to appear to have their heads on straight. Emmett was changing, she had known that since she and Alice had entered the hall where Emmett was standing after rescuing her.

"You really think that, Alice?" Bella asked.

Jasper took a step toward his wife. "I agree with her and I don't think anyone else can come up with a better explanation. This whole thing is spiritual. Evil even. And it appears to be personal. Spirituality really is personal, though, right?" Jasper took an uneasy and unnecessary breath of air while his family had their eyes fixed on him. "I mean we are going to have to deal with this killer on a different level to satisfy his mentality. Make him think we are responding on some spiritual level, or…" Jasper was lost after that, or what? "This is just plain crap."

"Emmett, I have no idea what is wrong with you right now, but I am not going to give you the gun," Jasper eyed his brother and then looked down at the gun in his own hand. Not sure how many rounds he had left, he did a quick check; just one. "Besides one round isn't going to do you much good."

Rose walked over and shoved Emmett's gun down. "You are losing your mind, Emmett! Do you hear me? Now stop!"

A loud scream came from the room and they all turned to look at Bella, who was holding her head and letting out a huge cry of frustration. "Are you all nuts? We are trapped in this basement and all you two are doing is squabbling over the damn guns!"

Emmett blinked at her and it was like a cloud was lifted from his vision. He lowered the gun as did Jasper.

"Is it just me or have you all forgotten that the only way out of here is to kill someone?" Bella asked, looking at each of her family members, "And the way I see it, that someone is going to have to be me."

Edward tightened his grip around Bella's waist and kept a strong stare on Emmett, something had happened. That much he knew. Emmett was usually very mild tempered.

"What happened back there, Emmett?" Edward asked. Jasper and Rose also looked at Emmett for answers. "How did you get back here?"

"Through the back exit," Emmett said his face and voice emotionless.

"You sure it was an exit?" Jasper asked.

"I saw White step through that door earlier," Bella said from Edward's side, "I am positive it was the exit door."

"How did you get back in here?" Alice asked, looking up at Jasper.

"The stairs," Jasper answered, "This was supposed to be the main level."

"We are trapped," Rose said quietly.

"Do you all still think this is only in our minds?" Bella asked, looking each of her family members in the eye.

The house groaned and creaked, no one said a word.

"And that is so not the pipes," Bella added, "This house is alive."

It was such a clear and obvious truth, that no one dared to suggest anything different.

Rose walked over to one of the boilers and rapped her knuckles on it, checking to see if it was intact, then faced them, her hair wet from the steam.

"There is no way out, is there?" Rose's look showed true fear and horror. Edward could se that easily on each of the women's faces.

Her eyes settled onto Edward, who was staring up at the wall.

_The wages of sin is one dead body._

House rule number three: _Give me one dead body and I might let rule two slide._

It was beginning to become obvious to everyone in the room that the killer was demanding one dead body as a payment for their sins. Fanatical, religious nonsense, but Bella could not shake the feeling that if they did not play the game the way it was intended, they would all die; even the vampires.

Rose's eyes drifted, what was she supposed to do? Kill her sin? Blow Pete's head off? Or kiss his face and do whatever he wanted as a form of repentance?

The inbreds did not count; they all knew that by now. They also knew that White could have killed them all by now if he really wanted to, if he actually knew how to kill them.

_This is why religion should be banned in civilized countries_, Rose thought as she glared at the wall and stifled a scream of fury. Bella and Alice quickly joined in.

&

Jasper gripped the shotgun a little tighter. For the first time all night, he started to feel what Emmett was radiating and he became fearful that if anyone would snap, it was going to be Emmett. Jasper raised his eyebrow as he looked at his brother. This would be a first; Emmett had never once tried to take Bella down.

Then he began to think about himself. If it came right down to it, would he be able to make that choice? He knew that from Alice's very short vision before all of this started, that Edward would be the one to choose. He would gladly give his life, if it meant saving Alice's. In spite of the house rules, Jasper began to wonder if this would satisfy White, just one dead body. He remembered looking at the newspaper clippings. Whole families had been murdered, not just one person.

What confused everyone in the room was the "wages of sin" part on the wall. So far, Rose had been the only one to have really dealt with the family. What if she were right and the killer was religiously motivated? Whatever was happening to them was just as much spiritual or psychosomatic as physical.

Jasper felt like he was beginning to get somewhere and finally finding the real problem. How do you defeat a killer – or a house, for that matter – that is rubbing your sins in your face?

He knew they were all guilty; it was part of the life in which they had been reborn. The only one left in this room who was completely without sin, as far as he knew, was Bella. Jasper narrowed his eyes and turned his attention to Bella, was she the key in getting out of here?

_One dead body._ Could that mean_ Bella's _dead body?

"There is only one way out," Bella said as she met Jasper's stare.

The sound of metal scraping against metal squealed through the room. Edward spun around and snapped his head up just in time to see something drop through the shadows between two large pipes twenty feet above them.

He could hear Bella's pulse quicken. They all could smell it. It was a body dangling from a thick rope.

The body fell for ten feet and then bounced at the end of the rope, hung by a noose drawn tight around its neck.

Bella jumped back and screamed while Rose and Alice covered their mouths to try to hold theirs in.

The rope creaked from the swaying weight. Slowly, the body turned until they could all see who it was.

At the end of the rope, as dead as a sack of rocks, hung Emmett Cullen. Limbs missing.

_Emmett?_

At first, they were all too stunned to react. A voice cried out in Edward's mind, telling him that this body had serious implications, but he was too shocked to isolate them.

The eyes on Emmett's dead body were closed and his jaw had obviously had a real number done on it. He was missing both of his hands and one of his legs. But it was his mouth that fascinated Edward the most. There, creeping out, was a thin tendril of black smoke that streamed down toward the floor. It hit the ground and spread out on the concrete.

The meaning of the dead body hit Edward hard, like an eighteen wheeler barreling out of control on a dark road. If Emmett was dead, hanging from the noose, who was the Emmett standing just a couple of feet away from him?

White?

Edward acted out of impulse. Within a blink of an eye, he was standing behind Emmett, the gun snatched from him and held up to Emmett's neck like a vice grip.

"Edward, what the hell are you doing?" Emmett yelled, his voice coming out muffled.

"What are you doing?" Bella called out, but Edward was beyond hearing right now.

_I am allowing myself to be manipulated by the killer. I am being pushed slowly to killing for the killer. Putting myself on the same plane as the killer. Forcing myself to show my true colors. I am evil. We are all evil. We all must die._

_The wages of sin is death: one dead body._

The thoughts flashed through his mind and as quickly as they came, they were gone.

"This is not Emmett," Edward said and then nodded his head toward the dangling body, "That is Emmett."

"You…You think that is me?" Emmett asked incredulously before snapping the gun from around his throat with all his strength, throwing Edward into the wall.

Neither one of them said anything; right now, they were all following the same logic of thought.

Bella took a step back, staring at Emmett.

"_This_ is me," Emmett said, tapping himself in the chest with a free hand, "It is a trick! He is trying to get you to kill me! One dead body. He told me that you would do this! He tol–..."

"When did he tell you that, Emmett? If you bring your fist up even an inch, I swear to God, I will rip you limb for limb and burn you myself. And you know that I have done it before. I just finished off Betty a few moments ago."

Emmett stared at his brother in anger. "If that is me, then who am I?" He looked at his siblings who actually began to take a step back. "I just saved your wife from Pete a few minutes ago!"

But not even Bella or Rose could step up for his defense.

"He could be White," Alice said.

"I am _not_ White!" Emmett boomed.

"And I am not willing to take that chance," Edward said as his eyes grew darker.

"So now, not only is the house haunted, but the killer can magically appear as anyone, in any form or shape?" Emmett asked, getting annoyed that his family truly thought that the guy hanging from the noose was him and that he was the killer.

"There are two of you and one of you is not real," Rose said, looking at the two bodies that both appeared to be her husband, "I am not sure what I should believe anymore."

"What if that one is the apparition?" Bella asked, pointing up toward the body that swung slowly.

Alice nudged Jasper in the ribs, "Go check it out."

Jasper looked over to Edward, who nodded his head in approval. He slowly stepped up to the body as fear ripped through him. He was not even sure what it was that he was afraid of. Edward watched from his peripheral vision as Jasper cautiously lifted his hand and gave the body a quick nudge. The body swung and turned in place, the rope creaking softly.

Jasper returned to Alice's side. "It seems real, but so did the body of Stewart. And it was leaking black smoke when I ripped his head off."

"Black smoke, that must be the sign," Emmett said, "I am telling you, I am not White!"

Edward's mind was racing, he could very easily rip Emmett to pieces and throw him into one of the boilers. _One dead body. _He was brought out of his thoughts when Emmett began to ramble.

"Why would I rescue Bella from Pete if I was White?"

Edward glanced over to Bella, still keeping an eye on Emmett. "What about it? What happened back there?"

Bella's face dropped. "He…he rescued me, when you weren't there to do it yourself."

"Was Emmett ever out of your sight? Was there ever a chance that White could have gotten to Emmett and figured out what we are and killed him?" Jasper asked, looking between Bella and Alice.

Alice and Bella both looked at Emmett, their eyes growing wider.

Alice nodded, "Yes."

Emmett's brow furrowed, "What?"

"When you disappeared around the corner. He could have killed you then and switched places. You _were_ acting a bit strange, Emmett," Alice said, recounting the past events.

"Good grief, he threatened to kill me!" Emmett threw his hands up in the air and then turned to look at Rose. "Rose, honey, it's me. You believe me, don't you?"

"Threatened you how, Emmett?" Edward asked, "You know, there are not many ways to get rid of us. What did he say?"

"That he would kill me, if I did not kill you. That you would try to kill me. Which you _are_. That time is running out. Dawn is approaching."

Bella gasped, "It's gone!"

Edward spun on his heel. The body was gone, rope and all. Had they imagined the whole thing?

Behind him the door opened, feet pounded in. Everyone turned to look just as the door slammed. What they saw took their breath away and they all could tell that Bella's heart had skipped a beat.

Emmett, Alice, and Bella had just stumbled into the room through one of the doors. The Emmett, Alice and Bella that were already in the room stared at their twins, aghast. The three newcomers were identical to them in every way possible.

"Emmett?" Rose's voice was taut.

Edward stepped back and glanced over to Jasper and Rose. But it was not just Rose and Jasper that he saw. There, standing about five feet behind his brother and sister were their twins. He spun around and that was when he saw him: another Edward.

**A/N: Thanks for the great reviews, I know that many of you are asking tons of questions, but rest assure that they will get answered. To help you all out: the house is alive, Susan is key character in the story and White is evil. You really have to pay attention to what she is saying, especailly in the next few chapters!! My updates are going to be getting spaced apart, as I have begun working on my own novel, please check out my bio for a link to my website! This story is also coming close to being finished, with about 5-7 chapters left!! Thanks to FaithInSnape for her wonderful Beta skills!!**


	17. The House 4:31 AM

**Chapter 16**

**4:31 AM**

Bella's legs began to shake and her heartbeat was racing beyond any numbers that seemed possible.

There were twelve of them in the room; two Roses, two Emmetts, two Jaspers, two Alices, two Edwards, and two Bellas. All of them wearing the exact same look of terror on their faces.

Clearly, six of them were not real. Right?

The Bella that had just entered began whimper.

As if reacting to an unspoken signal, the two Emmetts and the two Jaspers snatched their shotguns to their shoulders and paired off into a stalemate; the Emmetts' gun on the Jaspers and the Jaspers' on the Emmetts.

Edward tried hard to focus on the minds of the new visitors, but they were all a complete void. He realized then that he had lost whatever advantage he had. He should have finished this when he had the chance, because he could not now – not being certain of who was real and who was not, a luxury now clearly out of reach.

The two Emmetts were breathing hard. At any moment a gun would go off. They all knew that.

"Easy," Edward breathed out. Both of the Edwards took a step closer to the Bellas, both ready to protect her to the death.

"No one moves," the other Jasper said.

"What is going on?" the new Bella asked, her body trembling.

No one made a move to answer. For several long seconds, maybe even minutes, they stood still in a deadlocked silence. The house groaned again, loud and distant above them.

The new Edward finally broke the silence. "We have a problem. Nobody make any rash moves. Let's just take it easy."

"Who are you?" the new Alice asked, looking back and forth at both Jaspers, "How did you get in here?"

"Through the door," Rose said.

"That couldn't be. Edward, Jasper and I came through that door a few minutes ago and the room was empty," the new Rose said, "We were here first."

Impossible, Edward thought. But the new arrivals obviously did not think so.

"Six of you are not real," the new Emmett said, "Beginning with the two of you. Put the guns down." He moved his gun back and forth between Emmett and Jasper.

The new Emmett and Jasper were beginning to take control, as if they were real. Edward's mind began to spin as he watched his brothers; they both appeared to be trigger happy, clearly not realizing that when they shot any bullets they would just bounce off everyone. He was not about to lose Bella like this. Edward walked over and put his hand on both of Emmett and Jasper's shoulders. The new Emmett and Jasper immediately aimed their guns at the three Cullen boys.

"Just take it easy," Edward breathed, "Nothing rash."

Was that not the same thing that the other Edward had said?

"We have to figure this out. Bella?" Edward turned to look at Bella.

She did not answer.

"Tell them, Bella," Edward said again after casting a quick glance in her direction, still keeping his attention focused on the new arrivals.

"Tell them what?" Bella asked.

"That we are real, for heaven's sake!"

"I…I don't know which one of you is real, Edward."

"Are you crazy? We were just in here with the dead body…"

"What a minute. What dead body?" the new Rose asked.

"Shut up!" Emmett said.

White had told Emmett that he should kill Edward.

Would an apparition's shotgun actually work? This whole thing, from the very beginning, had been messed up. He knew that it would take more than a two gauge shotgun to kill his brother under normal circumstances, but who was to say that they were truly vampires down here?

"He is going to kill us," Edward said, glancing over at the other Edward, both of which had their eyes on the two Emmetts. "You know that, don't you? And since he does not know which is real, he has to take both of us out."

The new Edward thought about this and then quickly grabbed the gun out of Jasper's hand and turned it on Emmett.

The new Emmett jerked his gun on the new Edward. They were paired off again, though without Jasper this time.

"He is doing this," Rose yelled. But _which_ Rose, Edward no longer knew. He no longer knew who was who in relationship to how it all began. He only knew he was the real Edward.

The other Edward also seemed to know himself. What if he were right?

"White is manipulating us," one Alice said, "Forcing us to kill someone we think might not be real without knowing for sure."

"She's right," the other Alice said, "He is trying to extract payment for wrongdoing, which in his sick little mind is death."

The hopelessness of the situation was beginning to tear Bella apart. She could not seem to stop the trembling in her legs.

If only they all could be reasonable. But the notion of reasoning with an apparition struck Edward as pointless. And Emmett appeared to be out for blood, regardless of whether or not there was really any there to give. There was no reasoning with either Emmett at this point, or possibly Jasper either.

"This is what White told me would happen," Emmett said with a wicked smirk, "He said Edward would kill me if I did not kill him. Not a chance, hero boy."

"Don't do it," the new Edward said.

"Do it," the other Emmett said, "He's got a gun on the wrong Emmett."

It took only a second to figure out what the other Emmett had just said. "You are saying I am expendable because you think you are real?"

"I am saying we got us a standoff. Someone's going to die here and it is not going to be me."

Each of them seemed to truly believe they were real. If either of the Emmetts knew they were not real, they would have started a bloodbath already without fear of dying themself.

"We can figure out which of us is real," the new Jasper spoke up, "I doubt an apparition's shotgun will actually fire. You all can fire your guns at the wall."

"And then what? Kill the ones whose guns did not fire?" Emmett asked, wearing that same smirk on his face, "Why don't we just go for it now and see who is alive when the dust settles?"

"Because you just might end up dead, that's why," Edward said, lowering his gun, "I agree with Jasper's suggestion."

After a few moments of consideration, the Emmetts both raised their weapons. One turned his gun to the wall and pulled the trigger.

_Boom!_ The room echoed with the blast and was immediately followed by a second. _Boom!_

The second Emmett had discharged his gun as well. Afterwards, they both trained their guns on Edward. Then one of them switched to the other Edward, who brought his up as well.

Edward followed suit.

"Like I said," one Emmett said, "I think we should just go for it."

"Which probably means that you are not the real Emmett," Rose said, "You are egging us on to get into a bloodbath and that is not Emmett's style."

"You think? Well, I think I am looking at White and the only way to find out is to put some lead in him."

"There is another way," one of the Jaspers spoke up.

They all turned and looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

"Stewart's dead body leaked black smoke. I am thinking that maybe it was not real, like the hanging body a few moments ago. So I am thinking that unreal bodies leak black smoke."

"Betty was real enough and smoke came out of her," Edward said, "I am thinking that the smoke has to do with being dead."

"Or wounded," Rose said, "The stuff oozes out of the wounds, right?"

"Are you saying we should cut ourselves?" the other Rose asked.

"Just how do you suggest we do that?" Jasper asked, "the only one here that could bleed is Bella, and I personally do not know if I would be able to control myself and from looking at most of you, I'm not sure you would either."

"We will just have to hold our breath," Alice said, "Everything will be fine."

"Have you seen it Alice?" Jasper asked.

Alice shook her head. "No, but the vision before we came down here, this was not the decision that Edward was to make."

Edward looked over to his wife. He knew what the smell of blood did to her. "Bella, do you think you can do this?"

Bella took in a deep breath and then exhaled slowly, nodding her head. Sweat streamed down past both of her temples. She knew that there was a good chance that someone in the room was about to go ballistic and she did not know how well she would fair in the end.

Bella held out her hand. "Who has a knife?"

Jasper dug in his pocket and pulled out a small pocket knife and placed it into Bella's hand. She held the point in her palm and looked up to her vampire family. The last time she had a small cut on her hand was at her eighteenth birthday, when Jasper had come very close to killing her. Now, he had already admitted that he may not have the control to keep from doing so this time, so she knew this could easily turn bad. Not just for her, but for all of them.

"Ready?" Bella asked and she heard everyone take in a sharp breath.

Bella pressed the blade against her skin and pressed. But the knife was not as sharp as she had hoped, forcing her to draw it back until it sliced past the epidermis.

She smelt it before she saw it and tried to focus on breathing through her mouth. Blood seeped from the cut. She held it out. The sight of red blood had never looked quite as comforting, but at the same time, she knew it was agonizing for her family.

"Satisfied?" Bella asked quietly and then tossed the knife to the other Bella, where it dropped by her feet.

The door suddenly opened behind Emmett. Susan stood in the doorway, eyes wide and breathing hard.

Edward glanced at the others to see their reactions; they all looked similarly amazed. "Are you okay?"

"What do you think you are doing?" she demanded, "You are going to kill…the one thing…" Her voice was not connecting with Edward. It seemed to be hitting dead spots. Skipping just like a scratched CD.

They all had their weapons raised again and no one seemed to feel the need to lower them.

"Is she real?" Alice asked. "Maybe she is not the real Susan."

"There is only one of her," Rose said.

"We should cut her," Emmett said nodding toward Susan.

_The wages of sin is one dead body._

"Maybe you all deserve to die tonight. That is what he wants. That is…all of us dead. I thought… but I think you are just going to get us all killed. You…" Her next few words were garbled. "You…ba…the way out…hate…blood."

Susan looked at them as if she had not noticed her own speech skipping.

"Only those with eyes to see the truth can see it," she said, "I think you all are blind as ba…the …finish…ma…Edward is going to ki…heart…to die."

"She is with White!" Rose said.

Edward allowed a shiver escape down his spine. What if she were actually White's ally? It would explain how she had managed to live so long.

Edward reached for his weapon. Bella stepped closer to him and held her hand out; she wanted it to be known that they were going to do this together. The black smoke began to pour out of the cut in her palm while her hand was extended to Edward.

Both Edward and Bella froze, stunned by the surreal sight. Black fog pouring out, falling vertically, hitting the ground and spreading. Like liquid nitrogen.

How was that possible? She was unreal? The other Bella was the real Bella?

Her eyes met Edward's which were stricken with terror.

"I told you Edward," Susan said, "You are all guilty…You…"

But the rest of her sentence was smothered by a loud moan that reverberated around them.

A thick column of black smoke poured out of the large round vent near the ceiling through which Edward, Rose and Jasper first entered the room. Fog just like the fog that came from Bella's hand. An inky black streak over two feet in diameter. It shot out several feet then took a turn straight down and flowed to the floor, where it spread toward them.

Two thoughts collided in Edward's mind. The first was that Emmett was most certainly going to kill not only Bella, but possibly himself as well...and then the other Edward and Bella, whom that Emmett had believed to be the real Edward and Bella.

The second thought was that his only chance at survival was to take Emmett's advice, to go ahead and finish the job now.

The fog rushed around his feet and sent a slicing pain up his legs. Bella screamed. The Emmetts backpedaled in hopes of avoiding the rapidly increasing fog.

The fog touched the door where Susan stood, slamming it shut in her face. If she was with White, she was leaving them to their own demise.

Edward stepped forward and picked the gun up off the floor. He pivoted, expecting hot lead to fill his body at any moment, though he was not sure he would be able to distinguish it from the pain that was already screaming through his body. The fog was like acid and the pain would even put Jane of the Volturi to shame.

The other Emmett had seen what he was doing and moved to line his gun up with him.

The fog swirled over his head before he could see what, if any, damage he had inflicted. The sound of another shot buffeted his ears. He chambered another round and fired blindly in the direction of the sound.

The room filled with a series of blasts, like rolling thunder, as shot guns on all sides fired in rapid succession, followed by screams and the sound of bodies falling to the ground.

Guns clattered on the cement floor and then there was silence.

Edward heard nothing but the sound of his own shallow breathing and the ringing that was in his ears.

Then a whooshing sound enveloped him; the black fog began rushing back into the ceiling the way it had come. Edward stood still, blinded by the smoke. He had not been hit, which did not surprise him, but he suddenly was not sure if that was a good thing. What if Bella had been struck?

His body began to shake from head to toe, more from shock and fear of the idea that he could have just killed his wife in cold blood. Emmett had gotten his standoff.

The smoke level fell below his head.

Bella stood to his left, one Bella.

Alice and Jasper stood on the other side of Bella, only one Alice and Jasper.

Edward turned his head to his right where Emmett and Rose stood. Again only one of each of them.

The smoke was gone. No Susan. No dead bodies. Edward, Bella, Emmett, Rose, Alice and Jasper stared at one another in silence.

It was Bella who finally broke the silence. "Oh God," she mumbled. And by the way she had said it, Edward thought it might have been a prayer of desperation.

Edward looked down at Bella's palm. No fog, just red blood. But staring up at them all, Edward knew a few other things now.

He knew that Emmett intended to kill him.

He knew that he had what it took to kill one of his family members if need be.

He knew that Bella could leak black smoke, so who was to say that none of the rest of them could?

And he knew he was guilty of a desire to kill. The monster that he had tried so hard to keep hidden was still there inside of him. He was beginning to understand that the game was about confronting the wages of sin, whatever that meant. It was as much about life as it was about death. What kind of contest did not consist of at least two contestants? If this was a contest between good and evil, then where was the good?

Edward did not know. And this, too, brought a shiver down his spine.

**4:48 AM**

It took them all a few minutes to settle into the full dread of their predicament. They were truly and hopelessly trapped by a killer who could reach out and tinker with their lives at his whim in a house that seemed to follow his will.

Something had happened to Bella, but she wasn't talking about it. Her breath smelled like sulfur and she was oddly quiet.

Edward did not want to appear threatening to Emmett, so he gave the shotgun back to Jasper and quietly asked that he keep an eye on Emmett. He could not figure out what had happened to his brother, what had made him turn on his family, but he did know that the house was responsible. If you would have asked Edward who would turn first, he would have said Jasper, maybe Rose. But never in a million years would he have though it would be Emmett.

That only left everyone eyeing each other and to stew. Occasionally, they all would cast their eyes up to the wall.

_The wages of sin is one dead body._

They tried to make sense of the multiple characters and the fog that had swallowed them. They had all seen the same thing; that much was a comfort, however slight it may be. They all agreed that the house was deliberately manipulating them to expose their own basic tendencies. Their sins, maybe. Their eventual submission to the killer's demand that they surrender to the murderer in them all.

This they all agreed on, with Jasper's help. But despite his pinpointing the issue at hand, this shared knowledge did not offer any solutions. Understanding that you are falling down a cliff did not provide the proverbial branch to break your fall. Jasper could describe his understanding of the cliff, but he could not pinpoint the branch.

"We're screwed," Rose said after a lull in their otherwise intense discussion, "We are out of options. We are stuck in the boondocks in a possessed house that is making us see ghosts or whatever these things are that keep popping up. The only problem is that right now, I think I would be begging for death if I could."

No one could argue with her.

"There is only one way out of here," Emmett said.

"What is that, Emmett?" Jasper asked, pumping the action in the gun, only two rounds left, he was going to need to be careful.

"You know what I am talking about," Emmett said, eyeing the wall.

"Enlighten me," Edward said, facing him, suddenly itching for the same confrontation that was in Emmett's mind.

"He wants one of us dead," Emmett said, his eyes kept flicking to the wall and then over Edward's shoulder to Bella.

"You want to kill her?" Edward asked, "If you even attempt to _think_ about, I will kill you."

"I did not say that. But why? Do you _want_ to kill me?"

They just stared off in silence.

"I am just saying that he has us trapped down here for as long as it takes for one of us to kill another. Someone has to die, Edward. And the only person that can is Bella. Or the girl."

"The girl? Who said anything about having to sacrifice either of them? We can still get out of this house. _All_ of us."

"White told me. The others do not count. Betty, Stewart, Pete - they do not mean a thing. But Susan does."

"Unless she is working for White," Alice said, "She is gone again. Why? There is something wrong with her."

Edward shrugged his shoulders, "Maybe. I am not willing to concede tha-"

"Well, what _are_ you willing to concede to, Edward?" Emmett demanded, "He wants a dead body, we giv-"

"You really believe he will be satisfied with just one of us blowing someone's head off?" Edward shuddered at the thought of killing Bella or an innocent little girl.

"I think he will follow his own rules," Jasper said, "He may not let us all walk out of here, but as long as we do give in to his demands, he will not kill us either. We start to kill either Bella or the girl, then game over."

"What is our time?" Emmett asked.

Edward checked his watch. The crystal was cracked. "Four fifty-two."

Emmett's laugh boomed ruefully. "An hour and something. If we do not kill one of them pretty soon, he is going to try his hardest to kill all of us."

"Boy, he will be in for a shock," Alice said quietly.

The door rattled. A fist beat on it. "You in there? Let us in!"

A man's voice. Not the familiar sound of White's deep voice behind a tin mask.

Bella backed away from the door. "Is…is that him?"

"Could be him without the mask," Emmett said, standing in front of the door, the gun raised.

He began to inch forward, but Edward grabbed his shoulder.

"Hold on!" Edward hissed.

The pounding started again. "This is Officer Lawdale. Open this door immediately!"

Jasper looked at Edward with questions in his eyes."Who?"

"Lawdale! The highway patrolman that Bella and I ran into."

Rose's face brightened up and ran to the door, unlocked it and pulled it open.

Highway Patrolman Morton Lawdale stood in the doorway, dressed in the same tight gray uniform that Bella and Edward had seen him in the day before. His revolver was out, cocked by his ear, as he glanced around and entered the room, locking the door behind him.

"Well, well, well," Lawdale said, scanning the room, his eyes resting on Edward, "What kind of mess have you gotten yourselves into now?"


	18. The House 4:53 AM

**Chapter 17**

**4: 53 AM**

The game had not changed, but there was a new feeling in the air. For the first time, Edward felt a genuine sense of hope. Lawdale was undoubtedly quirky, but he carried himself with authority and confidence, something they so desperately needed. Especially Bella.

Sweat darkened his gray shirt, which was otherwise dry. Apparently the rain had let up. His black leather boots were muddy, but Lawdale was unscathed. He had armed himself to the teeth before coming in. A gun on each hip, two more behind the belt in his back, blades in the ankles of both boots. Lawdale was nothing short of a gunslinger born in the wrong century.

To his knowledge, no one had seen him enter the building, which he had done without waiting for the backup he had called in.

After grilling Rose, Emmett, Alice and Jasper as to their identity and then assuring himself that each of the six was not mortally wounded, Lawdale demanded they tell him what had happened, all of it, and they fed it to him in long run-on sentences interrupted by his constant insistence for clarification. As they told their stories, the seriousness of the situation quickly unfolding, Lawdale began to pace the floor.

The house was still moaning and screeching above them, attracting Lawdale to periodically glance up to the ceiling. He offered no judgment one way or the other.

Lawdale told them how he had come across Edward's Volvo. His headlights had caught the red taillights of a car in the brush as he passed by. Ordinarily, he would have called it in without stopping, but he had recognized Edward's silver Volvo from earlier, since there were not that many of those cars in this part of the state.

"So we can get out of here, right?" Alice asked, "You got in, so we can get out."

"Don't go getting your panties in a knot, honey. Give me a moment." Lawdale holstered his gun and slapped his palm with the black baton as he began to pace again.

"Backup's on the way, but it might take them an hour or more."

"You mean you cannot just take us out yourself?" Rose asked.

He glanced at the ceiling in response to a groan. "You are saying a killer is out there. You are saying you have been haunted by three crazy inbreds. Plus, you are trying to tell me that this house is haunted and that there is no way out." He leveled his stare to meet Rose in the eyes. "I would say rushing out into the halls with guns blazing is a tad impulsive, would you not agree? Now just give me a moment to let this all sink in!"

Edward decided that he was beginning to like Lawdale, even with his quirks and all high and mighty attitude that he had on first appearance. He also knew that having Lawdale there might have put Emmett in a slightly better mood, rather than running around half bent on killing Bella.

"I have heard about the White character," Lawdale continued, "A serial killer who has been on the wires for a few months now. He has been given the name the Tin Man, which seems to correspond with the mask that you all have described. His trail has been leading him southwest. No surprise he has finally shown up here."

Lawdale began to slap the baton on his hand, keeping beat with his train of thought. He turned on his heel and looked at the three Cullen boys. "You say that Betty and Stewart are dead?"

"We think so," Jasper said.

"In the least, they are very badly wounded," Edward spoke up.

"And this girl, Susan, keeps going missing, which you think means she could be working with the killer. I doubt that a young girl would be much use to a killer. I would maybe buy the argument that she is more a figme--."

"We did not imagine her," Edward interrupted.

"Fine," Lawdale huffed, "Then I will give you all the benefit of the doubt. The house, on the other hand…" His eyes settled on the wall.

_The wages of sin is one dead body._

"…The house is what concerns me the most," he continued.

"But you do believe us," Rose commented, making it sound more like a question than a statement.

"If I did not believe you, then I would not be concerned, now would I?" Lawdale rolled his neck, cracking it.

"A haunted house," Bella stated.

Lawdale shrugged his shoulders like he had heard it all before, "Could be. You can deal with a man like White by putting some lead in his gut. But the supernatural is a whole different thing."

"Tell me about it," Emmett said under his breath, low enough to where only his siblings could hear him.

Edward eyed Emmett and then looked over to Lawdale, "Are you a religious man?"

"Cannot say that I am and I cannot say that I am not. But I know that if what you are telling me about this house is accurate, it will not matter if we have the entire SWAT team outside."

"But you got in," Alice stated.

"And I have been thinking about that," Lawdale began to pace again, "Something you should do a little more of."

He walked to his right without looking toward Alice. "When you try to get out and leave the basement, you end up right back here. Doors lock behind you and open in front of you. As if the house knows you, inside and out. Am I right?"

Edward nodded his head. "Something like that."

"The house will not let you out, but that does not mean it will not let others in."

"Like a flytrap?" Bella asked and Lawdale nodded his head in agreement.

"But White could not get in at first," Emmett said.

"Based on what you all have said so far, it sounds to me like he did not want in, not until he came into the basement. Like he was trying to drive you all down here on your own."

He man's reasoning began to mirror Edward's thoughts, although Lawdale was coming at it from a different angle.

The room fell silent, even the house stood still.

"It is possible, just possible, that I may be able to get out," Lawdale mused out loud.

"How?" Emmett asked, taking a step forward, "I'm going with you."

"Whoa, back up there, boy. All that I am saying is that I know Tin Man did not see me coming in. I saw the truck at the front door and avoided the top floor. Same for the basement entrance in the back. I came in through a grate and up a dried out tunnel. The place used to be a mining operation back in the day, but was abandoned when they discovered a mass grave on the grounds."

"A grave?" Alice asked, shooting everyone in the room a look of _I told you so_. "That would explain a few things."

"The Tin Man could have turned this house bad somehow – invited in whatever powers to haunt it – but if there are rules, there are rules, and you can't change that. House rules. The house will prevent anyone from leaving it, assuming it knows they are inside."

"Are you suggesting that the house does not know that you are inside?" Emmett asked.

Lawdale eyed him for a second. "You must be the dense one, but you are on the right track."

Jasper grunted. He closed his eyes and took a deep, long unnecessary breath, trying hard to clear his head. "I cannot believe that we are talking about this. What a bunch of crock. A house does not know stuff like this."

"Wait a minute," Edward said, looking over to his brother, "I thought you changed your mind, that…"

Jasper held his hand up in the air to stop his brother from talking. "I know and yes, I said it _might_ be haunted. Spirits, demons, other supernaturals and all of that. I know! But that does not make it real. It is one thing to talk in general supernatural terms." He looked at the words on the wall. "It is another thing altogether to start talking about rules and specifics and…whatever. Like there is a whole order or something. Like this house is actually _thinking,_ for heaven's sake! Do not tell me that does not sound just a little bit crazy to you."

Edward nodded in agreement, it _was_ crazy. "But we do not have time to sort out all the why's. We have just a little more than an hour left."

"And then what? The house starts beating us to death, trying its damnedest to kill us?" asked Rose.

"I think it will be a little more personal than that," Alice said quietly, her eyes locking with Edward's.

"Like I said earlier, let's try and not get our undies in a bunch," Lawdale said, looking at each of the family members in turn, "I doubt that the house knows everything. But the power, the spirits, the demons, whatever you all want to call it that has taken up residence here...they can change the house at will. Yet, they let me walk in unchallenged?" he smacked his baton into his hand, "The only explanation is that these powers are limited to time and space and they were preoccupied with all of you. Maybe that's how I made it in undetected."

"Which means, if you can get back to an exit undetected and unseen, then the house will not know to stop you," Rose began, "Is that your point? Assuming these things work like you're suggesting?"

"I am not saying that I know how the house or these_ things_ work. I am simply dealing with the facts in front of me and drawing a few conclusions," Lawdale said, looking at Rose.

"If you go, I am going with you," Emmett said.

"I don't think so, city boy. They know you – they will be all over you."

"Why are they not all over us right now?" Emmett demanded.

"Maybe they are," Edward said, "The rules are pretty simple. Tin Man's giving us time to kill."

For the first time, Bella looked over to Lawdale, "Even if you get out, how do _we _get out?"

"We get out when he opens the door for us," Rose said pointedly, "Am I right?"

Lawdale shrugged his shoulders. "Assuming I am right. Maybe the doors can only be opened from the outside. They let you in, but not let you out."

Edward stood there looking at Lawdale. He had given them the first real plan of the night, but he no longer possessed the same confidence as before. Edward could not help but feel that something had changed in Lawdale over the course of several minutes.

"If I can get out without being detected, I will find a way into the house and will open the basement door, the one you say is between the kitchen and the dining room. If you can make it to the top of the stairs quickly, while I open the door, maybe we can get you out."

They all stood there staring at him ambivalently.

"Once out of the basement, we should be able to escape. The basement is what seems to be the problem." Lawdale paced some more, the concern on his face now even more obvious. "I do not mind pointing out that I may not make it out."

He cracked his neck and took a deep breath. "Okay, tell me the best way to get out, the windows, doors, the ceiling? Tell me."

"Back door through the kitchen," Emmett answered, "White bolted it from the outside. If it does not work…" He just shrugged his shoulders.

"I will find a way in," Lawdale said.

"White didn't," Bella said.

"White did not _want_ to," Edward added, "Were you not listening?"

Lawdale looked down to his watch. "It is five oh-nine. Give me ten minutes. At exactl-"

"That long!?" Bella screeched.

"With time for unforeseen difficulties, yes. If I make it, I will open the main door that leads down here to the basement at exactly 5:19. Be on the stairs. Do you think you all can do that?"

Edward and Jasper synched their watches. Edward glanced at the others and they all nodded. All Except for Emmett who really wanted to go with Lawdale.

Lawdale walked to the door and then put his ear against it, listening for several long seconds, then took a deep breath and dropped to a crouch. He unlocked the door, cracked it open, took one quick glance outside and closed the door again.

"Okay," he said.

"You are sure you know the way back?" Alice asked.

He tapped his head. "I left a few markers. I will see you all in ten minutes."

Morton Lawdale cocked his gun, extended it out with one hand, opened the door, and disappeared into the hall in a silent run.

**5:14 AM**

They spent the first five minutes of the wait trying to convince one another that Lawdale's plan would work, but there were too many questions voiced by all of them to bring any true comfort.

Lawdale's plan was a hope, nothing more. A thin hope at that. But Edward knew that short of hope, Emmett may try something rash. Like trying to kill him or worse, actually killing Bella. If the highway patrolman had not shown up when he did, some one would probably be dead right now.

"Are you sure you know the way?" Emmett asked Edward. "How long should it take?"

"The stairs are through these halls – been down there twice now, unless they have changed."

Bella rolled her eyes. "Great."

"If you can up with a better plan, by all means," Jasper said, "But for right now, let's just stick to the one that we've got."

Bella began to fidget nervously, while Jasper kept an eye on his watch, everyone had grown quiet.

The house, on the other hand, continued to moan and groan.

And what about Susan? The more that Edward thought about her, the more he was convinced that she was nothing more or less than another innocent victim. With every passing minute, he became more convinced that she could not be tied in with the killer. It just did not seem to fit.

"We have only one minute," Jasper said.

Edward walked toward the door, "Follow me."

They exited the room on edge, in a single file line. Edward, Bella, Rose, Jasper, Alice, and Emmett bringing up the rear, with his shotgun held high; locked and loaded, one spastic finger on the trigger.

"I don't think this is going to work," Bella said. She spoke quietly, but her voice sounded shockingly loud in the hall. Edward turned back and put his finger to his lips, motioning her to be quiet.

It took them thirty seconds to reach a large wooden door that led into the second hallway. So far, so good. But it was the hall ahead that concerned Edward the most.

Edward turned back and spoke low and quickly, just barely loud enough for this family to hear. "Through this door; stairs are on the right."

"What is that?" Bella hissed. She was pointing down toward the floor.

Edward saw it immediately; the black fog they had encountered in the boiler room was seeping through the crack below the door.

"That stuff is in the hall! We can't–" Bella screeched.

"Quiet!" Edward whispered, loudly with force. "We go. Ignore the pain. Just get on the steps as fast as you can and run."

"Edward, you would be better off carrying Bella. We don't need her tripping and getting hurt," Jasper said, while Bella eyed him incredulously.

Edward nodded and turned around so Bella could climb up on his back. Once Bella was holding on safely, Edward reached out and took hold of the doorhandle. "Ready?"

Edward jerked the door open.

Bella was the first to scream. They were back in the boiler room, flooded with two feet of black fog. A fist seemed to have lodged itself into Edward's throat. Six others were standing in the black fog.

Another Edward, Bella, Rose, Emmett, Alice and Jasper. All facing off with shotguns, just as they had before. The Bella's hand was bleeding black fog, which was pouring from the round vent up high, exactly as before.

They were staring at themselves, as if _they_, not the people already in the room, were the unreal ones among them.

The ones inside the boiler room spun to the sound of Bella's scream. For a moment all twelve of them froze, six outside the room, six knee high in black smoke.

"Edward!" Susan stood panting in an abutting hallway, "Hurry! Follow me!"

Without waiting, she ran down the hall, away from them.

Edward decided that he would follow. Whoever she was, he would follow. He slammed the door shut and then turned on his heel.

"What if –" Emmett started.

"Shut up! We do not have any more time," Edward responded.

The rest of the family followed Edward; Bella clung to his neck for dear life, despair had began to gain up on the girl. Down one hall and to a large door. He recognized it as the same door they had just assumed as the way into the main hall.

Susan threw the door open. Fog filled the hall to a height of three feet. Susan hesitated for a moment then ran into it.

"Hurry!" she yelled over her shoulder

The minute they entered the fog, Edward knew that they were in trouble. The acid, for one, but this he could tolerate. What lay ahead of them was an entirely different matter.

The house had changed again. And this change brought all seven of them to an abrupt halt.

They were still in the hall at the bottom of the stairs. Edward knew that because he saw stairs rising to the main floor to their right. But the stairs now ran the full length of the hall, not the mere ten feet that he had been expecting.

The passage extended just as far to his left. The entire passageway had doubled in length.

And width.

But not even that seemed to matter and was not for the reason for their stopping. The man standing between them and the stairs is what mattered.

Bella buried her face into Edward's neck, Jasper let out a low growl, while Alice hissed. Stewart stood there in front of the stairs, shotgun raised and ready. Their sudden arrival had startled him, but he recovered quickly, swinging the gun toward the seven of them.

_Boom_! Emmett had fired. His shot picked the man up off his feet and dropped him into the black fog that filled the hall up to their knees.

"Run!" Susan yelled. She ran toward the stairs, leaving swirling fog in her wake.

The five vampires took after her, easily keeping up.

"Watch out for the others!" Susan called out over her shoulder.

_The others?_

Edward saw the backs of their claw-scarred bald heads first, just breaking the top of the fog. Rising slowly, as if the fog was giving them birth.

The fog's familiar pain pushed Edward to run faster, yet still at a slow human pace, his family picked up what he was seeing. Jasper picked up Alice and ran with her in his arms.

"The door's not open!" Rose cried out.

"Run!" Susan shouted.

The new inbreds were positioned abreast, forcing Edward to brush to past as he sprinted. Their rising continued, like a choreographed dance. Their heads showed to just the top of their ears. All of them fired away, toward the stairs. They were all bald, but that is where their similarity ended. Bullets bounced off the vampires. Rose had her back pressed up against Bella, being a shield while still running.

Now the basement was infested with more than just Stewart, Betty and Pete. Why they were rising so slowly, Edward did not know; but he was sure that this was part of White's game.

Susan lept onto the stairs, stumbling on the first one. Edward picked her up effortlessly and then scrambled out of the fog. The others followed, equally frantic, motivated by desire to get away from the inbreds as much as from the fog.

The door was still closed. Emmett fired at the latch. The buckshot bounced off the door, the bullet not even scratching the paint. Edward placed Susan down and Bella climbed off. The two of them began to beat their tiny fists on the door, screaming. The others were piled on the top couple of steps, staring back down to the hall. Their faces were drawn and now much paler than ever before.

Edward whirled around to look and he thought that his dead heart had started back up again. The bald heads had risen from the fog so that the tops of their heads and their eyes cleared the black sea of smoke.

Their bald heads and scars seemed similar to Stewart's. Their eyes however were not. Edward squinted and looked harder; the eyes that stared back at him were glowing a fluorescent green. Like nothing that he had ever seen in all of his hundred plus years.

"Let us out!" Bella screamed, with Susan's voice echoing hers.

_Thud. Thud. Thud._ Heavy boots walked across the hall's concrete floor. Edward jerked his head around and looked to the far end of the hall.

White was walking down the passage, through the rising clones, trench coat dipping down into the black fog. The tin mask hid his expression. But the stride of his steps spoke volumes.

The moment White passed the inbreds, they all stood up to their full height.

Emmett fired a shot. White jerked back as if he had been hit, then continued to walk, unabated.

All four of the girls were actually beginning to scream bloody murder, their backs pressed up against the door.

Emmett was aiming to fire again and pressed his back up against the door, when the pressure caused it to cave. He stumbled back.

The group surged back through the doorway. But Edward's view was of the other hall, not the space in which they just entered.

The moment that the Tin Man saw that the door had been opened, he stopped. But instead of raising his shotgun and firing at them to stop their escape, he just stood there and watched.

Edward was the last one through. He scrambled for the door, eyes glued on White.

"Hurry up and lock the door!" Rose screamed, seeing what Edward was looking at.

At the last moment, just before shoving the door closed, White grabbed his mask and titled it up, fully exposing his face to the Cullens.

It was a face from the grave, half of it burned to the bone. White's jaw snapped wide, as wide as the mask itself, and he let out a roar, one that could be heard for miles around. One that would put any werewolf or vampire to shame. It was a face that none of them wished to ever see again, it was a face that brought all of their greatest fears to life.

Black fog streamed from his mouth, blasted toward the door.

The door slammed shut and Emmett threw the dead bolt.

A shock wave hit the other side of the door with enough force to bend the wood and send them all flying against the opposite wall. A thin wisp of black smoke drifted past the cracks.

But the door held its own.

They all managed to stand, panting, with their eyes fixed on the door. But it never moved.

"Um…guys?" Bella's voice from the dining room was stretched thin, laced with confusion.

Edward turned around, as did the others. The first thing that he noticed was that some of the lights were back on, blazing brightly.

The once cheerful and homey dining room now looked as if it had been sitting vacant for a hundred years. Dust covered the painting and walls. The wallpaper peeled from the wall in long sheets. Most of the furniture remained, but it, too, was covered in thick layers of dust. The cushions on the good chairs had been chewed and shredded by rats.

The table was smothered with rotten food, the same food they had seen Betty prepare just hours earlier, now all of it was crawling with maggots and worms. The stench was similar to the sick sulfur odor that was in the basement.

With one glance through the archway, Edward saw that the dining room was not the only room that had changed.

"It's…how's…what…" Bella stammered, but was not able to make a full sentence.

They all just stood there, no one answering, all too stunned to say a word. The house was dead. All of it.

Dead. Very dead. But a death that was very much so alive.


	19. The House 5:20 AM

**Chapter 18**

**5:20 AM**

It took them all about a full minute to step beyond the shock and try to find reason.

"Are you all seeing the same thing I am?" Alice asked. "Or was earlier just in our minds?"

"Is something like that even possible?" Bella asked. "I mean, we watched Betty cook. She tried to feed me her dinner."

No one could offer any speculation, much less answers.

"This cannot be real," Lawdale said, "I have been in this house a hundred times."

"It is real," Susan said, her voice tinted with a bit of anger. "I told you there was more going on here than you realize. I told that they were wrong." She said something else. Or did she? Her lips kept moving for a few seconds, but no sound was coming out. Or was Edward just imagining that as well as everything else?

Edward lowered himself to his knees to get down to eye level with Susan. He knew that she had answers. "They? You mean Stewart and the rest of them?"

She just stared at him.

"Are you saying they were demons or something?"

"That would explain why they don't count," Jasper said from behind Edward.

"Don't be ridiculous," Rose said, "Demons, please. This is just all about our imagination, not –"

"Shut up, Rose!" Emmett yelled. Rose stared at him, flabbergasted. "We exist and we are not supposed to. So why not demons and other supernatural beings? Call it what you want, but right now we are running out of time."

"…And he is going to kill all of you," Susan said, finishing her point.

Edward headed toward the kitchen then turned back to Lawdale. "How did you get in?"

"Back door."

It was the first good look at the patrolman Edward had taken since Lawdale had opened the door. He had removed his outer shirt and used a strip of it to make a makeshift bandage for a wound on his upper arm. A bloody bandana circled his head. His t-shirt was well worn, advertising Budweiser, untucked and hitched over the gun on each hip.

Edward leaned in just a fraction, not even noticeable to Lawdale and took in a deep breath. "Do any of you smell that?"

Edward looked up and eyed each of his family members, no one seemed to be smelling the blood that Lawdale was now covered in. Even Bella did not seem disturbed. Edward put his brow together, something was off. There was no blood lust from anyone in the room.

"What happened to you?" Edward asked, his eyes never leaving Lawdale.

"I had some trouble getting out. Halfway through the grate, someone took a shot at me, and I fell back through. Took me a few minutes to take him out."

"That could explain why they were waiting for us," Alice said, her features also locked on Lawdale, "But that does not explain why they would let us go."

"You call that letting us go?!" Rose yelled out.

Bella suddenly came out of the kitchen in a full run, "They let us go because it is no better up here than it is downstairs."

Edward followed Bella back into the kitchen, the others following hot on his heels. He burst through the kitchen just as Bella took hold of the back door handle, giving it a twist. When it didn't open, she threw all of her weight into another twist, fumbling with the dead bolt.

"It's locked!" Bella cried out finally.

Edward came up behind Bella and tried the door for himself. It would not budge. He looked up to his brothers and they all lined up, ready to run full force into the door. The sound of the three of them crashing into it resonated around the room.

"It's locked?" Rose asked, leaning against the wall.

Edward spun on his heel and eyed Lawdale. "You're sure this is the way you came in?"

Lawdale stood his ground, refusing to answer.

Emmett loaded the gun and motioned with his head for everyone to get out of the way; he fired and kept firing until he had no more rounds left. The blasting tore into the wood and shattered the lock. Edward tried to turn the knob again.

No luck. He looked at the seal and ran a long finger over it. It felt more like the whole door was not a door at all. Solid as a wall. Steel bars ran the length of the broken glass. That was new. Edward tried to bend the steel rods, but they did not budge, just like the door.

"It is the same as the basement," Bella said, her tears beginning to creep out of her eyes. Alice and Rose wrapped their arms around her, trying to help hold her together.

"We will just have to try and find another way, Bella, that's all," Alice said, trying hard to sooth her.

The guys walked into the foyer and stared at the damage in wonder. Lack of damage is more like it. Edward recalled seeing splintering wood, flying plaster, disintegrating doorjambs. More illusions? Or was all of this an illusion?

They turned when they heard Lawdale walk back out of the kitchen with an ax in his hands.

"If a truck cannot break a board going thirty miles an hour, there is no way that an ax will do any damage," sarcasm dripping from Emmett.

However, Lawdale was not going to listen. He stared down the wall in a kind of stupor, unbelieving. The Cullens stepped back, just letting him go for it, watching in amusement as he suddenly began swinging at the wall in a rage.

_Crash…Crash…Crash!_

Each blow bounced off after removing some paint. The wood itself, however, remained untouched.

Lawdale paused, breathing hard, then raced into the living room, yanked the sofa roughly out of his way, and proceed to smash the window with a loud cry of rage and frustration.

But the bars beyond did not budge.

He took a second swing and then a third, before swirling on his heel and taking aim to the brick fireplace.

Mortar sprayed as the ax hammer smashed through the brick. "Ha!"

"That is on the inside," Emmett called out. He dropped the shot gun and walked over to Lawdale, holding his hand out for the ax. "Let's try the back wall." Emmett swung with all of his strength through the opening against the back of the fireplace.

Edward knew by the solid sound that it was hopeless. Emmett stood back and stared into the ashes. The tin can was still on one side where Edward had thrown it earlier.

It would always be known as the Tin Man's can.

They all could still see the writing on the bleached out can.

_Welcome to my house_

_House Rules:_

_3: Give me one dead body, and I might let rule number two slide._

Emmett grunted and tossed the ax onto the floor.

"What's this?" Lawdale asked, reaching down into the ash for the can.

"The can that we told you about," Rose answered.

Bella began to pace with both hands in her hair, her brow wrinkled with stress. She whirled around and stared at Edward, her eyes blazing with fury.

"How is this even possible? How can this be happening to me? All we were supposed to do was go to Renee's and then go straight home. You never said anything about taking any detours. If you would have changed me when I asked, none of us would be here right now!"

"Keep your voice down, little lady," Lawdale snapped at Bella.

"And what good are you?" Bella snapped back. "You could have gotten us out of here through that grate you found. Instead, you come up with this –" she flung her hand out to him "-cockamamie plan that gets us all trapped up here!"

"You are at least out of the basement," Officer Lawdale had one of his pistols out and up by his ear so fast that Edward almost did not catch it. He stood up immediately and went to stand in front of Bella.

"The next time one of you yells at me, I will not hesitate to put a bullet over head to show you that I mean business; the next time after that it will be in your leg to bring you under control. If you had not noticed, there are now seven of us. And over my dead body will any of us die in the next hour. You got it?"

Growls were emanating through out all the vampires, all of them ready to pounce and take Lawdale down, just from mentioning the idea of trying to hurt Bella.

"Eight," a soft voice said.

Susan stood quietly beside Alice and Rose, who both flinched, not realizing that she was there.

"Fine then, eight. My point stills stands. Now we have about an hour, is that correct?"

Jasper looked down to his watch, "Not quite. Dawn is at 6:17. At least that is what we have been…"

Something began to pound on the wall behind Edward and Bella. She jumped at the sound and the two of them spun around. Again, _thump, thump, thump._ And this time Edward could see the wall vibrate with each hit it took. The dining room.

Lawdale pulled out his other gun. "Okay, backup will be here any minute. It is time to stall until help comes. But that does not mean run," he nodded over to Jasper and Emmett. "Bring your guns." Lawdale began to troll across the living foyer.

_Thump, thump, thump!_

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Bella asked.

"You have all been running all night, right now it appears that the house might just be feeding off of your fears."

"We are alive, aren't we?" Rose replied.

"I am not sure you all would still be alive if I had not come when I did. Now wait here."

Edward privately communicated with his siblings, they all knew what they were to do. Emmett, Jasper and Edward followed Lawdale. Alice and Rose stayed with Bella and Susan.

"What if it's trying to separate us again?" Bella asked in barely even a whisper.

_Thump, thump, thump!_

"Wait," Bella screamed out, "Don't leave me!"

She pushed herself free from Rose and Alice and began to run up to Edward.

"You all cannot just leave us here alone," Rose's objections covered up something Susan was trying to say. The three remaining girls hurried into the hall after the guys and Bella.

After a quick jab of his head into the foyer, SWAT-style, Lawdale stepped into the room and waved for the rest of them to come in.

The pounding stopped.

The room was as they had left it. Empty.

"You catch my point," Lawdale said. "From this point on –"

"What is that?" Rose interrupted.

'What's what?" Lawdale asked.

Rose lifted her finger to her lips and listened. A sound like a garbled record, backward masked, played far away. Below them. In front of them, in every direction they turned, they could hear it.

The sound grew louder, unmistakable now, but still unintelligible. Soft wailing bubbling behind, ebbing and flowing. Edward took a step into the hall. It was coming from the door to the basement.

They all poured into the hall in a rough semicircle, listening intently to the strange sounds, listening for words, because it was a voice. At least one voice.

The door suddenly beat slightly inward.

Edward could hear Bella suck in her breath, her heart beginning to race.

_Thump, thump, thump!_

They all jumped as the door shook under the pounding, taking them all by surprise.

A deep moan reverberated through the entire house. Fingers of black fog began to seep under the door, drifting over the wood floor, and burned words into the door's surface.

**ONE DEAD BODY…OR EIGHT DEAD BODIES!**

Then as quickly as the fog had snaked in, it went back through the cracks. Then silence.

For what seemed like an eternity, no one moved or even made an attempt to speak.

"Okay," Lawdale breathed out. Edward turned his attention to Lawdale. The light in his eyes revealed a hint of panic. Something that Edward had not seen when he came down to the boiler room, but that was because, up until this point, Lawdale had not experienced the true horrors of the house.

But what struck Edward as odd, as he continued to study Lawdale's face, might not have been panic at all, but an eagerness and determination, possibly even desire. What if… What if Lawdale was actually part of the game? Not White's part, but a kind of counterpart? Good coming to fight evil.

Edward shrugged off the question. No. He could not be. Bella and Edward had met him on the highway at least a hundred miles out. Edward could see that he was the same person: cocky, overly sure of himself, but yet something was off. Edward could not put his finger, or nose for that matter, on what it was.

Lawdale faced them, now clearly unnerved. "We have to get out of this house now. We'll tear the house down we have to, both floors, all the windows, the attic, everything. I don't care how we do it, but we need to get out!"

"There is no way out," Emmett said, his face going into a pout. Edward, along with Rose, could tell that Emmett was beginning to return to them.

"We will _find_ a way out!" Lawdale snapped.

**5:29 AM**

They all began to move quickly through the house, following the cop's orders, as much as the Cullens found it useless. If the vampires had not been able to get out, they did not know why they even bothered with Lawdale. Then again, it was also all about appearance. Lawdale was still under the impression that the house was playing off of the original six that entered the house. Dividing up and confusing the house. Bella found a crowbar in the closet and decided to hold tight to it, her way of protecting herself, and then proceeded to climb the stairs. Emmett, on the other hand, found this a useless plan and decided to follow Bella, if anything else to think about what he really needed or should be doing.

They all were still amazed at how drastic the house had changed. Aside from the layout, there was hardly any indication that they were even in the same house. Yet, this new house seemed to know that the end was coming. It had settled down, the moaning and creaking had subsided. The calm before the storm.

With about thirty minutes to go before the game would come to an end, the killing was now the only thing that needed to happen. The question of who had already been answered, at least in Emmett's mind.

"The attic," Bella said, panting from the run up the stairs, "Emmett, let's find the attic."

Emmett ran into one of the rooms, the ax in his hands, and threw open the closet door. Nothing on the ceilings showed an entrance to an attic.

"Watch out," he called out and took a swing at the window, knowing full well that it would be useless. Crashing glass. Bone-jarring jolts against the steel bars. He tried another swing, at the wall this time.

The full force of the blow, with all of his strength behind it, ran up his arms and even rattled his teeth. Now if that was flesh and blood, like someone's head, it would have made a clean slice all the way through. He decided that he was swinging at the wrong thing.

"Where is the attic?" Bella asked, coming up behind Emmett.

"Shut up!" Emmett yelled at her.

Bella was too frantic and already scared enough to show any real emotion or reaction to Emmett's outburst. Instead, she ran out of the room and into another. Emmett lumbered into the upstairs hall at a slow pace. Time was running out, his eyes were darker than night, his thirst was beginning to take hold of his throat. He knew that he was coming close to losing control.

Maybe he would just go ahead and take care of Bella now. He would not even bother with quenching his thirst. Just a bam and a slam. It would all be done and they could all just walk out of here. Edward would kill him, but at least they would be out of the house. One dead body…

"In here," Bella screamed out, "I found it!"

_Crawling into an attic without any light is about the stupidest thing that Bella has ever done, _Emmett thought, as a smile began to spread across his lips. He was grateful for the first time that Edward's or Alice's power had no access in this house.

He turned when he heard the pounding of feet on the staircase. Emmett could see the cop climbing the stairs two at a time.

"Find anything yet?" Lawdale asked.

"She found the attic," Emmett answered with a hint of smugness.

The officer rushed past Emmett, carrying an old oil lamp. Emmett's smile grew just slightly at his new thought. What about the cop? Take down the gunslinging cop; he would be someone that that no one in his family would object to. But would Tin Man accept Lawdale? He was not one of the original six that had entered the house.

Susan. Betty, and Pete for that matter, had made it pretty clear that White wanted Susan dead. Maybe he should go after Susan.

Emmett hurried into the room and found Lawdale on the steps he had pulled down from a hatch that opened up into the dark attic. He scrambled up, holding the lamp up and out.

"Get up here," Lawdale called down to Emmett and Bella.

Emmett was headed up ahead of Bella, holding the ax, when it occurred to him that the ax would be a good weapon to take down either of them. Deep down, he was not sure if he _could_ do it, but he _would_ if the opportunity presented itself.

The attic had a wood floor and was piled high with junk along the entire wall. The ceiling, made of gray boards, sloped. The single square window in the gable was barred.

Then man hurried over to Emmett and grabbed the ax, shoving the lamp at Emmett, "Hold this."

Before Emmett could even protest, he was holding the lamp and Lawdale now carried the ax, taking away his control of the situation and the opportunity to kill one of them.

Lawdale hefted the ax over his head and began to swing at the sloping ceiling.

_Bang_. Naturally, nothing happened.

What was unnatural was the groaning and moaning that was created with the split of the air after the blow, loud enough for Emmett to feel in his chest, as if the attic was the source of all the groans they had been hearing all of this time.

Bella screamed, almost as loud, and Emmett came within an inch of grabbing something - anything - and slamming her right then and there. Instead, he reached out and slapped her slightly with his hand, not enough force to do any damage, but enough to get her to stop screaming.

She did. The house fell quiet with her. The look in her eyes reminded Emmett of the same look that she had coming out of Pete's room.

Lawdale took one of the knives out of his boots and started digging with it at the seams between the rafters and the roof. It barely penetrated. The tip broke off with a snap, leaving a notch in the end of the blade. Lawdale swore and hooked the knife into his belt, taking up the ax for another round.

Lawdale began banging on all the walls in rage. _Bang, bang, bang, bang._ Right along the wall then on the gable with the window. _Crash, crash_, against the glass.

Same response; nothing.

The cop stood facing the clear back sky outside with his back to Emmett and Bella, breathing hard, his heart racing. He let the ax down slowly till it hung from one of his hands, the head just barely brushing the floor.

The house groaned softly.

Lawdale breathed heavily.

Emmett and Bella stared, taken aback by this, the second of the cop's furious outrages.

"We are all going to die," Lawdale said, still looking out the window.

He turned and faced them. "The Tin Man has never left a victim alive, never failed, never left a clue to his identity, even though he has blazed a trail as wide as the Rio Grande through the country in house after house. Now we all know why, don't we? But there is no way we can tell the rest of the world."

"What do you mean, we know why?" Emmett asked.

Lawdale looked at the ceiling he had just clobbered and spoke with more urgency. "It starts with knowledge; it always does. You have to know the game before you can beat it. The world has to know what they are dealing with."

Emmett crossed his arms over his broad chest and huffed. "Well, good luck on getting the word out then."

Lawdale looked him in the eye. "The killer's game is as much spiritual as it is physical. The FBI – whoever lies in the Tin Man's way – has to know that he can be beaten only if they understand the power behind him. That is what I mean. They are not looking at this from the right point of view. They need to shift paradigms or he will continue right on killing and leaving a path of destruction where ever he goes."

"Whatever," Emmett said, shaking his head, "Time is running out."

"Are you not listening to anything that I am saying, boy? There is no way out! This –" he gestured with his hand toward the ceiling, studying the boards and searching for the right words, "this _thing_, this whole killing spree he is on, this house…it is about good and evil and about what is inside. But the world does not know that!"

Emmett did not have time for this philosophical mumble jumble. If Lawdale wanted to talk like this, then he needed to find Jasper or Edward. If that is how Lawdale wanted to spend the last few precious moments of his life, fine. But just not with Emmett.

"Well, unless we beat White, the world will never know, now will they? So got any better ideas or are you just all talk?" Emmett took a step forward.

Lawdale hesitated. "Maybe Tin Man's right. Maybe someone has to die."

Emmett thought he felt his dead heart skip a beat. Was Lawdale finally seeing the light?

"Someone has to be sacrificed. We need a sacrificial lamb. The Tin Man wants fresh blood. Innocent blood."

"Newsflash," Emmett said, "And I want you to listen carefully. You are in a house full of vampires. The numbers are very limited on who we could sacrifice. And I can tell you right now that my brother Edward will fight you to hell and back to keep you from laying a hand on at least one of them."

Lawdale took a step back and blinked. "Then someone will need to volunteer."

"What?" Bella screeched out, "You actually think and believe that the only few people that can die will just give themselves up just so the likes of you could live?"

"Not just for the rest of us," Lawdale said, eyeing Bella, "The rest of the world could be saved!"

"It will never happen," Emmett said.

The cop stared back and forth between the two of them for a long time, his mind spinning behind those sparkling eyes. You did not need to be a minder reader to guess as to what he was more than likely thinking.

"We'll see," Lawdale said, "Think about it. We are running out of time. If someone does not die, we _all_ do. There is no way out."

Emmett swallowed hard. "We know that. But five of us can't die. So unless you are planning on being this sacrificial lamb, you may be stuck in house full of vampires until you do die."

Lawdale never said another word. He just picked up the ax and left the attic.


	20. The House 5:40 AM

**Chapter 19**

**5:40 AM - Downstairs**

Jasper and Edward ran from room to room on the main floor, looking for any structural feature that appeared uneven or remotely weak. A seam in the walls, an unbarred window, a place where plumbing had been ripped free to expose the night sky.

Alice and Rose stayed put in the living room, keeping an eye on Susan. Like the boys, Rose was combing through the entire living room for something, _anything_ that would bring relief to this endless night. Alice kept trying to focus, forcing visions to come, but all she got in return was a blank slate. Nothing but total darkness. It was like the house had used their powers to help conjure up the dead.

The cop's plan was not much more than trying to grasp the last straw in the haystack, looking for that needle that just was not there. Edward could not think of a better plan, so he attacked the search with frantic urgency. But the wood, the rebar, the siding, the plaster, the _house_ just refused to break or budge.

All the while, the third rule kept drumming through his head in a perfect beat. _Give me one dead body…_

Jasper and Edward both looked up as the house moaned, this time louder than before.

"We just need to face the facts, Edward," Jasper said, standing behind Edward, leaning against the door jamb.

It was such a simple declaration of fact. Edward knew he was right, but something was telling him to not give in, not yet. There were times when bravery only mocked reality. Was this one of those times?

"I think it is coming for me," he said, "It is forcing me to do what I hate the most."

What was he talking about?

"All those innocent people I killed. The newborn armies that I helped create. I am being punished for that. I am powerless to stop it now. It knows that."

"Who's _it?_"

Jasper looked at Edward wide eyes. "Me."

Edward did not contradict him, but he did not think he was right.

The house shook violently for a moment, then quieted. More jars toppled from the shelves and shattered on the ground by their feet. Cans clattered about them. It felt like the house was being shaken by a violent earthquake. Possibly the center it's of hell beginning to open up, to drop them into its fire.

"Do you believe in God, Edward?" Jasper asked.

Edward had thought about that exact same question at least a thousand times during the course of the night. In truth, no. If God did exist, He would not have allowed a monster like him to exist. To be forever dead, yet alive. All the times that he had talked to Carlisle about religion, it always came back to the same question, with the same answer. He knew he was soulless. But then again, if what was going on here, right now, meant the difference of saving the people he loved, if it meant he did believe, then by all means, let God strike him now with lightening to prove his existence.

Edward took a deep breath, "I don't know."

"If He does exist, where is He tonight?" Jasper swallowed, "There is evil in this house, there are supernatural entities that I never believed in until tonight, there is a serial killer with his sick, demented game, but where is God?"

"In a cathedral somewhere taking money from the poor," Edward speculated.

"There _is _no God!"

"Maybe not," Edward said, "At least not one that can help us."

From somewhere in the house, Susan began to yell. Jasper snapped his head around. The girl was shouting something, running down a hall or through the dining room.

What happened to Alice and Rose watching her?

Doors slammed somewhere deeper in the house. Wood thudded and crashed. Susan screamed again.

"She's in trouble!" Edward said. He snatched up the sledge hammer that he had been using on the walls and windows and led Jasper through the kitchen, into the hall and past the basement door, into the dining room.

"Susan!" Edward yelled.

Her cries were louder. She was screaming something at them from the front of the house. Edward ran into the foyer.

All the furniture in the adjacent living room looked like as if a tornado had come through. Several pieces seemed to defy gravity, sticking to the walls. For instance, the unbroken chair that was sticking halfway up the wall next to the fireplace.

Susan stood in the corner, pressed against the wall. Alice and Rose were in front of her. The large armoire that had once stood across the room was now six feet from the girls, slowly moving closer. Its doors seemed to be opening and closing on their own accord, banging not rapidly, but in response to Susan's moves, as if to cut her off.

"Edward!" she screamed. "You have to listen to me! You have to stop it!"

The chair on the wall flew across the room toward Edward. He jumped and quickly moved out of the way before it hit him. He took the sledge hammer and slammed it down on the flying chair, the wood shattering at once. One of the legs went flying in the opposite direction, and bounced off of Rosalie's shoulder.

"Listen to…" Susan's cry was covered up by the sound of a dozen doors slamming together. Not just once, but repeatedly. _Bam, bam, bam._ Every closet, every room, every cabinet in the house, repeatedly opening and slamming shut in perfect harmony.

The armoire that trapped the girls stopped five feet from them. Edward jumped forward and began to swing the sledge hammer. When the right door swung open, it hit Edward broad side and with so much force it sent him flying into the nearby wall.

_Bam. Bam. Bam. Bam. _

"The sledge hammer, Edward, watch out!" Jasper called out as he began to get in front of the girls, ready to fight off the furniture that was getting ready to attack again.

The sledge hammer began to fly through the air at a forty-five degree angle. It flew unaided toward the armoire.

The head not pointed to just any of the girls, but fixated on Susan.

_Bam. Bam. Bam. Bam._

"Edward!" Susan was crying out something from behind his siblings, but he was not able to see her now.

The hammer was now hovering over Susan, intentionally.

_Bam. Bam. Bam. Bam._

_BOOM!_

A gunshot exploded around them. The sledge hammer was hit broadside by full load buckshot. Its handle just below the head, which slammed into the wall and dropped from sight behind the armoire.

Lawdale leaped over the stair railings. He picked up the fallen sledge by the stubbed handle and was in full swing before Edward fully knew what was going on.

His first blow shattered the right door.

The second door began to flop and the cop took it off in one quick swing. Raging like a bull, he threw himself at the heavy piece of furniture and toppled it with a loud grunt.

The slamming doors that could be heard throughout the house stooped in unison with the crash of the broken armoire.

_Bam!_

Dust fell.

Silence settled.

Susan ran.

Past Lawdale, past Rose and Alice, past Jasper, finally passing Edward and down the hall. "You are going to get us all killed, Edward!" she cried out and then she was gone.

What was she talking about? What was he doing that would get them killed or trapped in the house for eternity? What were any of them doing wrong that would provoke such a nightmare? If this was his own personal hell, he did not want to subject Bella to it anymore than he wanted to damn her soul.

Or was it something they _weren't _doing?

_One dead body._

Lawdale faced all of the Cullens, breathing steadily through his nose. "You all okay?"

"We're alive," Edward said while Jasper reached down and helped him to his feet.

"I heard her screams, but I had to go back for the guns that we left in the kitchen," Lawdale said.

"What caused all of _that_?" Rose asked.

"What is causing all of this? Evil. The house has a mind of its own. No luck getting out, I take it?"

"What about Emmett and Bella?" Rose asked.

"The attic was no help," Lawdale tossed the sledge to the floor. He seemed to have lost his fire to destroy anything else. "I think we are all going to die."

"Thanks for the encouragement, _officer_," Jasper started, "But I think that we have already come to our own conclusion."

"Which is what?"

"There is no way out," Jasper said without hesitation.

"The wise man built his house on top of a rock," Lawdale said, "Preacher used to say that. Unfortunately, whoever built this house built it on a grave. Unless we expose that grave, we are all going to die."

"Uncover the mass grave in which this house was built on?" Alice asked, standing next to Jasper.

"Grave. As in death. He obviously thinks we are all deserving of death. One of us has to die. It is the only way."

Lawdale's statement would have left Edward floored seven, even three hours ago. But he knew that basic logic had brought the lawman to his summary of the matter.

"We can't just kill someone," Rose said, "Especially when most of us can't die."

"We are running out of time. Someone has to give their life so that the rest of us can live, not only to get out of this house, but to get back into the world. Put an end to this lunatic's game."

"You mean suicide?" Edward asked.

"No, I don't think that will work for White, does not fit his profile. He is not looking for cowardice. Whoever kills has to do it like he would, out of malice."

"That's murder!" Alice cried out.

"We are not murders, not anymore," Rose said.

"Evidently not. Not yet. But you may change your mind in the next few minutes," Lawdale paused for a second, "And if it comes down to it, I am willing to be the victim, even though there may be better choices."

They all stared at him. The cop was actually willing to die for a house full of vampires?

"I have already told Bella and Emmett," Lawdale put his gun down, "I am going to go and try to find Susan. Twenty-five minutes, my friends. Whatever you do, do it quick."

Lawdale reached over and picked the gun back up and handed it to Jasper, then turned toward the direction of the dining room where Susan fled.

Edward glanced at his siblings, who were all staring after Lawdale, their eyes wide in shock.

"It makes sense," Edward said, "In a textbook sort of way."

"This isn't a textbook," Jasper replied, "It is a classic case of mass hysteria and he is adding fuel to the fire."

"Maybe Lawdale is right, that there may be a better choice," Rose said.

"Who?" Edward asked.

No one spoke. They all knew who the other two choices were, but none of them wanted to admit it.

"I can't kill any of them," Edward said finally.

"You wouldn't have to," Jasper said.

"Oh, come on, you guys," Alice spoke up, "You now good and well that if Lawdale told Emmett and Bella the same thing, that Emmett already has his mind set on killing Lawdale."

"Can you see it, Alice?" Jasper asked, but Alice just shook her head.

Rose took a deep breath. "Pete said that White wanted the girl dead. I think this whole this is about her. I think White really let her go so that we would have someone to hunt, to kill."

Edward just stared at her, daring her to say what she meant.

"I am not suggesting that we kill Susan," Rose snapped, "But who is not to say that Emmett won't try? He knows to not go after Bella. But he may go after the girl."

The house began to groan again. An indistinguishable scream pierced through the walls. Other screams rose, overlapped.

**5:40 AM – Attic**

Bella did not agree to the plan, but she was not about to stop Emmett either. If there was any other way, she would stopped him, but the only way for them to get out and to live through the deadline was for someone to die, as the cop himself had said.

It did not sound right; she knew that it could not be right. But it was the closest thing they had to a plan. She would gladly step up and take the cop's place. She had even made that suggestion in the beginning, but Edward wouldn't hear of it. It would not be the first time that she had been willing to sacrifice herself to protect her family, more importantly, Edward.

Her hands had done their fair share of shaking throughout the night, but now, she would be unable to stop them even if she tried. She did not feel any better about killing someone than she had felt about eating Pete's dog food. But she was not exactly a stable person. She had learned that during the past several hours.

The thought of dipping her fingers into Pete's nasty food repulsed her and made her stomach turn with nausea.

A tear slipped down her cheek as she came to the conclusion that if anyone had to die, it is best for everyone that it be her.

"Are you sure we can do this?" she asked Emmett as they began to descend the stairs.

Emmett stopped and turned to look at Bella. "You could wait here. I will get the gun and then find the girl. Then I will be back, just like we agreed. There is no way I am getting hung out to dry on my own. I want Lawdale here when I pull the trigger. That way he will back us up."

"And if he doesn't?"

"Then Alice gets to do what she does best and fabricate the evidence."

The house screamed. A dozen overlapping screams.

"What is that?" Bella asked.

Emmett ignored her and moved forward down the hall in a crouch.

The scream sounded like it had come from a little girl. Susan, maybe. Bella shivered. And in that second, she understood.

It was Susan. Tin Man wanted Susan. He wanted _them_ to kill Susan.

And according to Emmett, that is what Lawdale meant when he said the killer wanted innocent blood.

Bella realized then what a sick, sick person she really was, and that she should be trying to stop Emmett rather than sneaking down the stairs behind him.

But she was too sick to stop him.

They hurried to the kitchen for the shotgun. But the guns were gone. Emmett stared in shock. "What now?" He stormed around the kitchen looking underneath cabinets and above the shelves. "He took them! He took them both!"

"Emmett, I'm not sure –"

"You left the crowbar upstairs," he said, pushing past Bella, "We'll take care of her with the crowbar."

Emmett stopped just outside the kitchen. "Or I can take care of her in other ways," a devilish smile spread across his stone face.

&

Five forty-nine. "We have to go," Edward said. "We have to do this now!"

"And what have you decided to do?" Jasper asked.

Edward began to waver on his decision, no wonder Alice couldn't see anything. Everyone would decide one thing then the next changes their minds. Kill Lawdale? Kill Susan? The last option of killing Bella.

"This is insane," Edward sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Edward," a soft voice said from behind him.

He whirled to the sound of the girl's voice. Susan stood in a doorway at the end of the foyer, near the bottom of the stairs.

The Tin man's mask was hanging from her right hand.

Edward was too stunned to speak, the same with his family.

She dropped the mask to the floor, where the sound echoed around the room.

"What's…?" Edward was not even sure what to ask.

"Will you listen to me now?" she asked.

Edward took three steps toward her and stood next to Alice, who was the closest to Susan. Alice was just gawking at the sight of the mask. There was something unnerving about the way Susan appeared, standing there in her tattered white dress with the killer's mask by her feet.

"Of course we'll listen," Rose said quietly. For the first time that night, her motherly and human instincts seemed to be kicking in.

"You have to listen carefully. I have been trying to tell you, but you aren't listening," she said, her face masked in seriousness.

"Of course I…" Edward started.

"I tried to warn you. The house is keeping you from listening."

"What do you mean?"

"It messes with your hearing. Makes it so that you cannot see things right. Or hear things right. I have been trying to tell you all night. Will you listen now?"

Edward just stared at her with confusion. He never had problems understanding what people were saying before, or even what they think. But as he stood there, he realized that he needed to open his ears and not fight with the mind of others.

"I…I can hear you."

"We are running out of time. Will you listen?"

"Who…who are you?"

The Cullen siblings stood there watching the two of them like a tennis match. Their heads moving from person to the next. Trying to listen, to learn. They were all wondering the same thing now: who was Susan really?

"I am the one he wants you to kill. But if you kill me, Bella will die. You have to believe me. The only way to survive the game is to destroy him."

"How?"

"I can show you."

If she was right, their hope for survival had just increased. They all learned a very valuable piece of information. That White was the one that needed to be destroyed. If Susan dies, so does Bella. But now, they were beginning to wonder how the two girls fit together.

In that moment, Susan was the perfect picture of innocence, much like the way Edward saw Bella, the way he wanted to keep her. He wanted her soul to stay innocent, pure. Not for her to become a monster like him and his family.

Right then, Susan was the guiding angel of light sent to save him, even though she was just a girl White had abducted. But at least in that moment she was more.

"He's trying to kill me, Edward."

Edward wanted to rush up to her and throw his arms around her and tell her that he would never leave her. That he would protect her. Right now, though, he was unable to move.

Instead, he replied. "I know, but that is not goin-"

"Lawdale is trying to kill me," Susan said.

Edward stopped and blinked as realization hit him, but he wanted to make sure he had heard her correctly. "What? Who…"

"Lawdale. The Tin Man. The one who leaks black smoke even up here. I told you before; he wants you to kill me. That's the real game."

Edward's mind began to race as a new terror unfolded and flashed down his spine. He looked behind him to see his family, each of them wearing a look of shock.

"Did you hear me?" Susan asked.

"Are you sure? Lawdale?" Jasper asked.

Susan's eyes never left Edward's face as she took in Jasper's question. "You will see the smoke, Edward."

A hand reached out from beyond the door and yanked Susan out of the room by her hair. She cried out in pain, or fear.

Emmett stepped through, grinning, his eyes wild.

"Emmett, what are you doing? Are you mad? She is innocent!" Edward yelled, crouching, ready to take his brother down.

"I think that's the point, Edward," Emmett said and then looked down toward Susan, "Let go."

Emmett pulled her through the door.

Edward reeled. A growl escaped his throat and he ran after Emmett. He came to a crossroad once he left the kitchen. One way led to the rest of the house. The other led straight to the basement. But which way did they go? Edward sniffed the air, trying to find Emmett's scent, but it was being covered up.

His mind went back to the boiler room, to when Bella had cut her hand. She had been leaking black smoke, but when they reached the top of the stairs, her hand was still slightly bleeding. Edward snapped his head up as the pieces started to fall into place.

"What do we do now?" Jasper asked.

Edward turned to look at the remaining of his family. "If he kills her, I will kill him." Rose opened her mouth to object. "Stop right there, Rose. You heard Susan. If she dies, Bella dies. We will all get stuck here for God knows how long."

Rose crossed her arms over her chest and huffed. "Fine, but if you kill Emmett, I just might have to kill you."

Edward just nodded his head, but his mind kept going back to what Susan had said about the black smoke.

"Black smoke," Edward began, "When we were in the basement, Bella was bleeding black smoke. Everyone who is evil leaked black smoke. The saying, _the wages of sin._ We are all evil, we have all committed some act of violence, it is in our nature. If we could cut ourselves, chances are we would have leaked black smoke as well. But up here it's different. This is the only place evil can hide."

"The smoke is only in the basement?" Alice asked and then shook her head, "I don't understand how…"

"I don't know understand it either, but up here, Bella never leaked black smoke. Evil can't just walk around up here for all of us to see, like it can downstairs."

"Okay, but what does that have to do with Lawdale?" Rose asked.

"Susan is saying that he is different, that he will leak black smoke no matter where he goes."

"How?" Jasper asked, beginning to pace, trying hard to follow Edward's thought process.

"I'm not sure," Edward replied, "All I know is that for us to get out of here, all of us together and living, we need to believe Susan."

Edward made a split second decision and then ran toward the kitchen, screaming, "Emmett, you can't do this, we need Susan for us to get out!"

No sound. Edward took all of his speed and ran toward the kitchen. Nothing.

"Go upstairs, now!"

The four of them turned around, running through the dining room and past the basement door, but that was as far as they got before coming to a screeching halt.

Officer Morton Lawdale stood in the archway of the foyer holding a large kitchen knife. His eyes were wide and his face was white.

"We are out of time," Lawdale said, placing the knife on the table and looking Edward in the eye with a scared, pleading look.

He did not look like the Tin Man.

"I want you to kill me," Lawdale said.


	21. The House 5:53 AM

**Chapter 20**

**5:53 AM**

"You want us to kill you?" Alice asked, looking at Lawdale.

Lawdale took the back of his hand and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "We can't put this off any longer. Someone has to die so the rest can live, and I am willing to do just that. Do it now before I change my mind."

Jasper still had a shotgun in his hand. He could have very easily lifted it chest level and shot. If he had listened and understood Susan correctly, Jasper would be killing White.

On the other hand, if Susan were wrong, Jasper would be killing a cop. And she could very easily be wrong, couldn't she? The way he saw it, Susan was not the most predictable or reliable person.

"Are you all deaf?" Lawdale snapped as he began to tremble. "Someone has to die here or we all will die. Now kill me!"

Jasper lifted the gun on instinct, but he just could not pull the trigger. From where Jasper stood, Lawdale deserved a medal of honor, not a bullet through the chest. How could he possibly be the Tin Man?

"Edwaaard!" Susan's voice screamed from the upper level of the house where Emmet had evidently taken her.

Edward snapped his head up toward the sound. What if Susan were working with the Tin Man to destroy their only hope of escape, namely Lawdale, who had managed to rescue them from the basement?

"Edward, what is it going to be?" Lawdale asked, his voice shaking as he took a step closer to Jasper's gun so that the tip was just inches away.

"Emmett is going to kill Susan," Edward said.

Lawdale pulled the gun from Jasper's hands and pressed it against his forehead just below the bloody bandana. "Now pull the trigger. Do it before he kills her. Save her. Do it like you despise the ground I walk on, with malice and hate. With the evil sickness that is raging inside you, boy. Do it!"

Edward took hold of the gun that was facing toward Lawdale's forehead, his hands shaking. He pumped the action to chamber another round.

"Now!" Lawdale screamed.

Edward's mind began to race, folding in on itself. He gripped the shotgun, the skin on his knuckles pulling tighter, and began to scream. Out of frustration, out of hatred, but more importantly, screaming for what he really was deep down: a soulless monster.

"Do it!"

Edward dropped the gun, he couldn't. He had put that life behind him. Instead he took the barrel of the gun and flicked up the bloody bandana. A two-inch gash over Lawdale's right eye glared at them. Red.

No smoke.

Edward's scream caught in his throat as he stared at the cut in shock.

No black smoke. He had almost killed an innocent man, taking Susan's assumptions at face value.

"Please, Edward," Lawdale began to plead, his eyes now clenched shut, waiting for an impact of some sort. "I am losing my nerve, do it now."

No black smoke.

He had come within a blink of an eye of blowing the man's head off of his shoulders because he had been led to believe that Lawdale was Tin Man. But there was _no black smoke!_

His family just froze. For the first time, it seemed they were all in control of their bloodlust. Even Jasper. There was just something different about the smell of the man's blood. Almost unappealing.

Lawdale's mouth gaped open in a soft cry. His eyes still clenched shut, his face wrinkled in agony. The man was breaking down, losing his nerves. And so were the rest of the Cullens, but namely Edward. He had come from within an inch of killing someone and not because of his thirst, which he had never done.

Black smoke suddenly began to ooze from Lawdale's gash, falling past his right eye, smoking all the way to the ground – black, as dark as coal.

How…how was that…what was happening?

Black smoke is what was happening.

Edward jerked the gun away and stepped back, making the family take a step back as well.

Lawdale's eyes were still closed and his face began to tremble with fear. A man who was about to die.

The black stuff began to flow freely from the cut now. A thin black fog swirled around Lawdale's feet.

"Kill me, Edward," Lawdale pleaded, seemingly oblivious to what Edward was seeing.

"Edward?" Rose said. "He is leaking smoke, Edward."

_Clearly_. Edward's hands began to shake even more.

"Kill him," Alice chirped.

"Kill me, Edward," Lawdale cried.

"I…I…" Edward stumbled among his words, not really knowing what to do.

"Pull the trigger!" Jasper hollered out.

Edward pulled the trigger.

_Click!_

Lawdale gasped. His mouth parted, eyes still closed, but no longer clenched tight. He looked unsure of whether he had indeed been shot.

Edward took a step back and pumped the gun again then pulled the trigger again.

_Click!_

For what seemed like eternity, the air seemed to have been evacuated of oxygen. Someone had emptied the gun of all but one shell before saving Susan from the flying ax just a few moments before.

Lawdale. It could only have been Lawdale, so that the gun would be empty after he shot the last round at the furniture in the foyer.

So that it would be empty for when Edward tried to kill Lawdale. So that he would be rewarded with nothing but the clicking sound.

Empty so that Edward could not use it to kill Lawdale.

The cop's face was still gripped by false surprise, mouth gaping, eyes closed. Lawdale slowly closed his mouth. He swallowed hard and deliberately and then cocked his head down.

All of a sudden, he snapped his eyes open and Edward stared into the black, pupil-less eyes that sent an unnerving chill down his spine. He knew without a shadow of a doubt, that he was staring into the eyes of Tin Man.

It was a terrifying sight. This tall man with blond cropped hair, his head tilted down and the black eyes staring up at them with the black smoke coming from his cut. Dark, evil, black.

Black.

Rose and Alice both screamed.

Tin Man's mouth turned up slowly as a smile appeared. "Never leave your gun unattended."

"Run!" Edward yelled, shoving the shotgun toward Tin Man as the girls bolted to their right. Jasper and Edward ran toward the kitchen, hot on the girls' heels. Jasper picked up a knife from the counter and threw it skillfully right into the man's bicep.

Lawdale flinched, but no more. He held fast to the gun that he had caught quickly. He was a man of supreme confidence. With good reason. He played his own game flawlessly.

But he could be wounded, which meant that he could be killed, just like Stewart. White reached around with his free hand and pulled out the knife.

Edward and Jasper bolted through the foyer still close behind Alice and Rose.

"Tear him up!" Rose called out over her shoulder.

"We don't even know what he is," Jasper replied.

A low chuckle reached through the wood walls. "Very good, Edward. Anger is good. Run!"

Edward flew up the stairs. Susan was right about Lawdale, which meant her claim that White intended to kill all of them also had to be true. Never mind the fact that most of them could not die. This was his house, his rules. Edward did not know what could really happen.

"Emmett," Rose screamed. "Don't do it! Don't kill her!"

A scream.

Was it too late?

Rose and Alice ran up the steps quickly and easy, while Jasper and Edward flung themselves over the banister.

"Emmett!" Edward called out as he tore down the hall into the first room.

Edward saw it all in a flash. The orange glow of a dim overhead light bulb. Bella standing to one side of the guest room; Emmett beating at a locked closet door with a crowbar.

"Lawdale's the Tin Man," Edward said quickly, "The killer is Lawdale."

Emmett kicked the door. His mind was on other things that were more important.

"He is going to kill all of us if she dies," Jasper said, coming up behind Emmett.

The door began to splinter and cave in from all of Emmett's beating. Edward looked over to Jasper and nodded his head slowly. Jasper dived at Emmett, knocking him to the floor.

"How do you know that?" Bella asked.

There was no sound of White's presence or his pursuit, but in this house, Edward knew that meant nothing. White could already be on the stairs, or even standing outside the bedroom.

Susan ran from the closet and sprinted out of Emmett's reach and hid behind Bella.

"Edward!" Rose screamed from the doorway, looking back down the stairs.

Alice and Rose took the final step into the room and slammed the door shut, pressing their backs against the door, their eyes wide.

"He's coming!" Alice said.

"I don't believe you!" Emmett called out from under Jasper. "Get off of me!"

"Shut up, Emmett!" Jasper growled.

"He's going to kill us!" Bella said.

Knuckles rapped on the door, Rose and Alice jumped and backed away from it. Jasper stood up as the girls ran toward their mates. They had nothing but their gifts, to fight him off. But they did not even know what they were really dealing with. Any other vampire or werewolf, they knew, but this…not a clue.

The brass handle turned. The door swung open with a long creak.

Tin Man stood in the opening with his tin mask in place as they had seen him before, only now he was dressed in the Budweiser t-shirt and the gray patrolman's pants. Blood soaked a strip of cloth that he had hastily wrapped around the wound on his bicep.

He held Edward's now empty shotgun in one hand, the knife that was thrown at him in the other.

"Hello," he said.

**5:59 AM**

The game had played out even better than Barsidious White ever dreamed.

The girl was still alive, but that would soon change. He relished in the thought of ending it all precisely as he had foreseen.

The Tin Man stripped off the mask Susan had dropped and placed it by the door. After taking a second to study the drawn faces, he addressed them all calmly.

"Sit along the wall."

They all moved obediently, the arms of the men wrapped tight around the women's waists.

Now he had them all in a row. Seven of them. The one called Bella, the one called Rose, the one called Alice, the one called Jasper, the one called Emmett, the one called Edward. And the one called Susan. Like seven pigeons in a cage, all staring at their captor.

White looked at Susan. The mysterious girl who had appeared at the inn without warning three days ago. An apparently easy prey, but then she disappeared into the basement as if that was her whole intent. At first, he had tried to kill her, but then discovered something quite unnerving about this child.

She was a good person, too good.

Not a person who just _did_ good things to show how good they were, but a person who really was good straight to the bone. The rest were "guilty as sin," as he liked to say.

But White was not so sure that Susan was guilty at all. She had not once talked maliciously or revealed any character traits less than virtuous. He always killed the guilty, proving to them that they were as guilty as his own murderous self; every single one of them eventually turned to murder to save their own necks.

For the first time, however, White had met a participant who did not fit the profile and therefore wrecked the significant havoc with his game. Then there was, of course, the fact that five of them were not even human. Not only where they considered damned creatures of the night, he was basically fighting with his own kind. Yet, they all seemed to have some sense of morals.

So White had to act quickly and decided that he would make her part of the game. Now it was not just _kill each other, all ye who are as guilty as sin._ Now it was _kill this innocent one, removing from amongst you the last vestiges of goodness, all ye who are as guilty as sin._

Susan stared at him, fearless, and then she opened her mouth to speak. "I know how…"

Tin Man shot out a round into the wall next to Bella, who shrieked.

Susan snapped her mouth shut. She understood. _If you speak, I will kill Bella._

He withdrew the small roll of tape from his pocket, crossed over to Susan and placed a long strip across her mouth and around her head. Then he proceeded to tie up her hands. He did not know how well the house could obscure what she said, but he did not want them listening, especially now. She knew too much.

White picked up the knife and began to pace deliberately, enjoying the sound of his heavy boots on the wood floor.

"It is time for you to know your own fate. We still have a few minutes to play the game."

No one said a word; they just sat, looked, and listened.

"I have a confession to make," White said, "Officer Lawdale will not be coming to rescue you. Unless by 'rescue', you think in terms of being delivered unto death."

They still did not speak or move. _Pigeons. Stupid Pigeons._

Edward snapped his head up and looked straight at White.

"You must appreciate the way I have taken such care in planning your deaths…all of your deaths."

Edward and Jasper stared at him stoically, while the rest of them glared, only little Bella looked confused.

White walked over to Bella and gently slid a finger across her cheek, she flinched as Edward began to growl.

"Now, now, Edward. You must behave. All of that self control that you have been practicing, I would hate to see you lose it, when you are so close to finishing the game," White stood up, "I went down to Lawdale's house, which was just a few minutes from here, and slashed his throat. I then took his cruiser. This was only so I could make sure that there would be enough players for tonight's game."

"You…you're going to kill us?" Bella asked.

"If you don't kill each other first," White answered, "And if you ask anymore stupid questions, you will be the first to die."

"Why don't you just kill us now?" Edward asked, calling White's bluff.

White looked over to Edward. Out of all of them, Edward was the only one who was thinking straight. The man was strong. Resolute.

"Patience, Edward. I will kill you. I will because my eyes are black. Black much like your own. Are you not going to ask why, Edward?"

"Why are your eyes black?" Edward asked without hesitation.

"Because I am not really White in the house. I am really Black in the box, and this is my showdown. Good versus evil, only in your case it is evil versus evil. All of you are the same as me; evil, _monsters_. There is no contest."

The girl was the only one that made a motion of understanding.

White threw the knife with a flick of his wrist; it twirled in the air a couple of time and landed with a _thunk_ in the wall between Edward and Bella.

"Do you know what evil is, Edward? The black stuff."

Edward did not respond.

White lifted up his bandana and let the black fog dribble then begin to pour out of his cut. It pooled on the floor and began to its way toward the group pressed up against the wall.

"Evil, the stuff in your heart. It is in my head."

White replaced the bandana.

"I have decided to give you all one last chance to figure this mess out. Most people are quiet dense. They like little white houses with big stained glass churches and prefer to do their killing with looks and words behind one another's backs. Is that not right, Rose?" White turned his attention to Rose, who looked like a deer caught in the headlights. "All of those thoughts that you have blocked from your brother regarding your true feelings about Bella."

White paused and then took a deep breath.

"Welcome to my house. No secrets allowed. Here we all do our own killing. It may be bloodier." White's eyes furrowed together. "Well, maybe it won't be too bloody, but it will be far less brutal."

Surely, they all understood some of this.

"The wages of sin is death and this time, we are going to the blood, what do you say? No more stained glass windows or white houses. Now it is White's house and in White's house we follow White's rules. House rules."

White could hear his breathing growing heavy, but he easily calmed himself down.

"One last chance to rethink rule number three. The girl was right on two accounts: you have not been listening to her. We can blame the house for that, though. And yes, I do want you to kill her. The game will just keep going until she is dead. But she is also wrong. If you do kill her, I will let whoever's still alive live."

He let that sink in for just a second.

"And if you don't kill her. I am going to slaughter the two of you that I can like a precious little lambs. Being sure that I start with the girl, just to show you how it should have been done from the beginning."

Emmett's eyes flittered toward his left where the girl sat, then back onto White. Good sign.

"Dawn is coming. I never let the game go past dawn."

He withdrew a match and struck it on his belt, and tossed the flame at the pool of black smoke that had fallen from his cut. The fog ignited with a whoosh as if it were gasoline. Firelight danced on their cold, hard stone faces.

"I never told you that I knew how to kill all of you. Fire is not really your friend, now is it, Edward? As you can see, the black stuff likes to burn. This place will go up in flames at first light. That is in six minutes. Six minutes to make a choice."

White moved to the door, stopping to pick up his mask, then opened the door and backed out of the room.

"Six minutes."

White slammed the door shut and began to tremble, knowing that the game was just minutes from ending.


	22. The House 6:02 AM

**Chapter 21 **

**6:02 AM**

Lines were beginning to connect the small dots of reason in Edward's mind as White talked, dividing competing forces that were deep at work behind the obvious: the house was evil.

Evil versus evil. But Edward did not totally buy White's claim. If there were evil, then there was also good; and those forces were in some kind of battle here. Up to this point, except for the face-off in the boiler room, their abduction had felt a little like a battle with two sides. But maybe that was the point. Had he been looking at this all wrong? Had he only been seeing the one side of the coin: the evil?

Maybe the standoff in the boiler room had only been a foreshadowing of what was still to come, a great contest. Edward against Edward. In some ways, this night had been nothing more than a stark playing out of the struggle he had faced everyday of his very long existence. His own limited view of that struggle focused on what he allowed himself to see. But what if he were not seeing everything?

What was this guilt that White seemed so occupied with? What sins did he think that they had committed? Edward knew what their sins were; after all, they were creatures that should not even be here. They should have died years ago. He also knew that changing Bella or just having the idea and thoughts was - or could be considered - a sin.

Jasper had admitted in the kitchen that he was being punished for all the newborns and war from so many years ago. Emmett…well, Emmett was showing his true self with his obsession of being strong and powerful, wanting control. The walls that the girls had built up were beginning to shatter, each of them having to face their fears, that they were indeed weak.

And so these were the thoughts that were drumming and racing through his mind, screaming at him while the Tin Man talked. White was leveling out the final challenge and that challenge was to kill. How hard could it really be? That is what they had all done for centuries.

"Six minutes," Tin Man slammed the door just as the thousands of doors that had already slammed shut throughout the night. But this time, there was such finality that for a moment, no one moved or spoke.

And then, as if in deliberate response to that finality, the doors began to slam shut throughout the house. Below, up and around them, all the doors slammed at one time, one final _BAM!_

The house shook and shifted.

An echo lingered. Something had just changed in the house.

Edward twisted around and grabbed the knife handle that was wedged in the wood while Ememtt was already scurrying off for the crowbar. But the knife was stuck, just like everything else.

"Edward?" Bella said, her eyes pleading for some kind of answers.

"Help me," Edward said.

Bella blinked and then was next to him, gripping his hands in her small ones. The warmth and the electricity that he had not felt in weeks, ran through his body. It was an overpowering sense of gratitude toward her and he hoped that she felt the same thing. They were doing little more than reacting to the horrors of the house and their pasts that had pressed them to the breaking point, but in that moment, with their hands touching, grasping a weapon that might help save her, the bitterness was taken away in just that one touch.

For the first time in the last couple of weeks, they wanted the same thing and were hoping for it together. The knife.

But it would not budge. It was so firmly embedded that it might as well have been one of the steel bars on the windows.

Edward whirled around, still sitting on his knees. Emmett already had the crowbar in his hand, crouched down like a tiger, grinning wickedly at Edward.

"Wait!" Edward stuck out his arm and pushed Bella behind him. "Just hold on!"

Jasper stood up and moved over toward Edward, leaving all the girls against the wall, ready to help Edward out. But also trying to ensure that the girls would not get caught in the middle.

Emmett's eyes moved over to Susan, who was still bound and taped to Edward's left. She was trying to yell through the tape.

Edward shifted closer to the girls. "It's okay, Susan," he said softly.

She quieted.

"He's going to kill us regardless," Jasper said. "Think about it. We have all seen his face; we know he is Lawdale, why would he let us out and live now?"

"Listen to him," Rose said, looking desperately into her husband's eyes, but all she saw was blackness staring back at her. She had never seen Emmett like this.

"I'll take my chances," Emmett replied. "I am not willing to risk an eternity trapped in this house on some stupid theory. If you don't want me to kill her, then so help me, I might just turn on you!" Emmett suddenly flew across the room toward Rose, the crowbar swinging.

Edward jumped in front of his brother to stop Emmett from doing something that Edward knew he would regret. "What are you going to do, Emmett? Beat the girl over the head?"

Emmett held his ground, but did not answer. At least he was thinking it through, though. Edward moved while Emmett was at least partly preoccupied, leaning over to grab the tape that covered Susan's mouth, yanking it free.

He held up his hands, the tape dangling. "Let's just hear her out."

Emmett stared, unmoving.

"Five minutes," Alice whispered after looking at her watch.

"Tell him, Susan," Edward said.

"Tin Man is lying to you. He will not let you all out of this house," her eyes flickered over to Bella. "Even if you kill me, some of you may not get out."

"That's a lie!" Emmett shouted. "If we don't kill her, we are all stuck here! She is just trying to save her own skin!"

"I know how to get out. That is one of the reasons he wants you to kill me," the girl said.

"Emmett, just calm down," Jasper said.

Emmett hesitated then spoke with a tight jaw. "If she knew how to get out, she would have already done so. You would have told us how."

"I have been trying! But you are not listening."

How do we get out Susan?" Edward asked, keeping his eyes on Emmett and his hand just in case he decided to try and take another swing.

"I can show you how, but you will have to trust me."

"She is going to get us all killed! Or at least Bella," Emmett said.

"If you look and listen, you can still win."

"The mirrors," Edward said softly. "We weren't able to see ourselves. The truth was hidden from us. We weren't really looking. She is making sense! For heaven's sake, Emmett, settle down and listen!"

"What truth?" Emmett demanded. "The only truth I am aware of at this particular moment is that White will be stepping back into this room and killing her anyways. You may be willing to throw your life away because she says so, but the rest of us aren't! Bella? Rose?"

Bella and Rose looked back and forth between their mates, at a loss. Finally Rose spoke up.

"What if she is lying?" Rose stumbled over her words.

"She saved your life! Both yours and Emmett's back there in Pete's room!" Edward snapped at her. "What is the matter with all of you?"

Bella put a hand on Edward's shoulder.

"Time is running out," Susan said. "You have to choose who you are going to believe. If you don't follow me, you all will die. Even your kind can die. But we have to go now!"

"That is the stupidest…" Emmett started.

"You are not listening!" Susan cried out. "I have been here longer than you have! You have to trust me, you will die!"

"White can't kill us! He can only kill you or Bella!" Emmett shouted back.

"I wouldn't count on it," Alice said from behind Jasper.

Everyone had turned to look at Alice, but she just shook her head sadly at their questioning eyes. "No, I did not have a vision. But for my vision from earlier to play out, Edward, we will need to trust her. Or at least you do."

That was not enough for Emmett; he held his crowbar high and went to take a swing at Susan. Edward stepped in front of him and knocked him to the ground. They both hit the floor hard, with Edward sitting on top. He knew that he would not be able to hold Emmett down for long and just as the thought appeared in his mind, he felt Emmett's knee crash into his side, throwing him off.

Edward had had enough; the game, the frustrations. He was reaching his end and this last rumble with Emmett was finally breaking him. He did the only thing he could do, the only release he had inside these walls. He let out a blood curdling scream. A scream that shook the windows.

Another voice joined his; Bella's, screaming.

Bella had managed to take control of the crowbar and was now being backed into the corner of trying to get Emmett to obey, to listen. Rose was standing next to her mate and was literally trying to kick some sense into him. They were all losing it.

Susan moved over to Bella. "Hurry, get my hands free!"

Bella spun around and moved as quickly as she could, attacking the tape.

"Follow me!" Susan cried out.

Emmett was pulling himself off the floor after Rose's beating.

Bella was already behind Susan with Alice and Jasper hot on her heels. Edward looked over to Emmett and Rose.

"Come on," Edward said.

Rose looked down to Emmett and then to her brother and shook her head. "You go; Emmett and I will stay here. Go save the rest of them. Tell Carlisle and Esme that we loved them and thank you. Go!" Edward stood there for a second and then followed everyone to door. Susan put her hand on then the knob, ready to turn it.

"Whatever happens, follow me. Open your eyes. Don't let the house turn you back."

"Where are we going?" Edward asked.

"The basement."

The door opened, not to the hall, but to total blackness.

Then he saw the stairs, the black fog, the dim lights, and the bulbs, and he knew that this door now led them into the basement. The house had shifted under them when White slammed the door.

Feared pinged along Edward's nerves from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet.

"Follow me!" Susan cried and plunged down the dark stairwell.


	23. The House 6:04 AM

**Chapter 22**

**6:04 AM**

Edward followed Bella, hot on her heels, down the stairs, keeping his eyes on the steps in front of him.

Susan dropped into the fog, which hit her at the waist. "Come on!"

Bella and Alice stopped on the last step before entering the black stuff.

"Will it hurt?" Bella asked.

"Just give me your hand, Bella," Edward said as Alice took hold of Jasper's.

Susan ran toward the first door that Edward and Bella had gone through a few hours earlier.

"Bella! Just go!" Edward said, stepping around her and giving a little pull of her hand, which he was now holding.

Bella stepped into the fog and cried out in pain. But she was committed and she rushed forward to met up with Susan, Jasper and Alice.

The moment Edward stepped into the fog, the pain seared through him from the top of his head down to the soles of his feet. He grunted and pushed ahead, never letting go of Bella.

It was his third time in the fog, and the pain seemed to be far worse this time. Sharper, deeper. The days of transformation were nothing in comparison to this.

He was the last to stagger out of the fog and into the room with the four sofas.

Susan threw the door shut behind them. "Do you see now?"

Edward looked around him as did the rest of the family. "See what?" he asked.

"You are not looking!" she snapped and stomped her foot out of frustration.

"What are we looking for?" Bella demanded, "Just tell us!"

"I have already told you!"

"Told us wh…" Bella began.

"The paintings," Edward said.

The painting on the walls were no longer actually on the walls. They hung in space a foot or two from the walls, moving slowly, facing him. All of them.

And they were all portraits of…of him! Odd and distorted, but unmistakably him!

The one directly in front of him showed him without eyes. The image's crooked grin sent a chill down his spine.

Edward dropped to one knee, eyes still on the portraits. Him, all of them were terrifying images that did not really look like him at all. White's imagination was demented.

"What do you see?" Jasper asked from behind, his hand touching Edward's shoulder, trying to get whatever feelings he could.

"They are of me," Edward spoke with a hurt tone.

"That's not what I see," Jasper said, "They're of me. They …they are horrible."

"He's doing this," Alice said, turning and looking at the images of herself on the walls.

The only one at a loss of what anyone saw was Bella. All the portraits hanging on the wall were of her family, the ones that she had grown to love and wanted to be with forever.

"No," Susan said, her voice still strong, but it softened. "This is not White."

The door from the study flew open and Edward barged in, panting.

Edward?

Dressed exactly like him, the same kind of Edward that had been in the boiler room, only this Edward did not pay them any attention whatsoever. It was as if he did not see them.

He threw the door closed and quickly scanned the portraits.

"It's…it's me!" Alice whispered. She was seeing her own version of what Edward saw. They were all seeing themselves.

"Now do you understand?" Susan began to sound urgent and desperate.

But Edward didn't understand. "I…" Edward did not know what to say.

The new Edward focused on something across the room. His face twisted in a furious snarl, and his hands tightened into fists, a terrifying image of raw bitterness and rage.

Then he was moving like a tiger across the room, sweeping up a lamp as he went. Over a couch in a single leap.

Edward saw what he was looking at. Three of the portraits in the far corner were no longer images of him. Two of them were of people he knew – one portrait of his mother and father, another of Carlisle. Then the third was Bella. On their wedding day, taken just before walking down the aisle.

The new Edward went for the portrait of Bella, screaming. He swung the lamp at the canvas, tearing it through Bella's face. Edward did not stop there. He proceeded to rip the frame apart, stick from stick, breaking each piece over his knee.

Then he tore down the other pictures and stomped on them. He finally stood back, assured himself that there were no other offenders in his presence, and strode angrily from the room, slamming the door.

When Edward looked back at the portraits that his other self had shredded, they were hanging in the air again, displaying his own distorted face.

"Do you understand?" Susan demanded. "We have to get out, but I can't get us out. If it were my house, I could do it, but it's yours, each of you. White made this _your_ house. You have to get us out, and it won't be easy, so you have to –"

"I am trying to think!" Edward said. He looked around. _"My_ house? I don't see…"

His eyes settled on an old wooden placard that hung on the wall above the portraits. An old familiar saying was burned into the wood.

_Home Is Where The Heart Is._ He knew then what Susan had been trying to tell them.

"This house is mirroring our hearts." He blinked. "It is drawing its power from the evil in us!"

"That is what I have been saying," Susan said.

"It is a haunted house that reflects the hearts of those who enter?" Jasper asked.

"Possessed by a power to mirror our hearts!" Edward said, standing and beginning to pace as everything began to fall into place. "You see the portraits of yourself. I see them of me. Each of our experiences is unique. We are caught in a basement that has been empowered by White to reflect the evil in our hearts!"

"We have been fighting our own hearts?" Jasper asked.

"No, the evil in your hearts," Susan said.

"The ultimate haunted house," Edward said, staring back at the portraits again. "We have been facing ourselves this whole time." He turned to look at his brother and sister. "Our own sins are haunting us."

"I still don't see it," Bella spoke up. "All I see are pictures of all of you. I see the pain in your eyes. I don't see any of me. What does that mean?"

Susan looked at her in confusion. "You're still innocent in some way, somehow."

Edward turned to Bella and for while, he saw her again, the way that she saw him for the first time, not a monster, but a man.

"Bella," he walked over to her, horrified by the image of himself tearing into the portrait of Bella with so much hatred. That was the truth of his heart. The whole idea of turning her made him a monster. The anguish of taking her life boiled up and had been containing it inside for so long.

"I am sorry, Bella. I have been so stubborn." He took her in his arms and held her tight, hoping desperately that he was not reconciling for his own gain.

She clung to him and cried into his chest. "I am sorry, Edward, I never really saw or understood what you were really going through. I love you."

He still loved her, too. Regardless of what happened tonight, he did love her. The realization made him pull her closer.

"ARG!" Jasper screamed as he clinched his chest with indescribable pain, bringing him to his knees.

Alice lowered down to Jasper's level and wrapped her arms around her mate. "Jasper, what's wrong?"

"It hurts!" Jasper said, wincing again, his eyes black as they met Edward's and then turned to Bella. "GO!"

Bella just looked at him and then at Edward, who nodded his head slightly.

"We need to go now," Susan said.

Edward talked to Susan, but his eyes were still glued to Jasper and Alice. "If we defeat our sin, we take away the house's power?"

Susan eyed him for a few moments. "No. That is not how it works. It is not about the sins. It is about the heart. It is about you. That is why your friend is hurting. His being an empath is not helping. He is feeling everything around us, each and everyone's true heart. It is killing him and it will kill him if we don't leave this house soon."

Bella's eyes went wide looking at Alice and Jasper on the floor. "Edward, we can't leave them here!"

Alice stood up from her husband's side and then put a small arm around Bella. "It will be okay. I have already seen it. We will get out!"

"Susan, what you say does not make sense. We are what we do?" Edward said, hesitating on what their next move would be.

"Follow me!" Susan ran to through the door of the study. "I will show you the way." If Edward was right, she was headed toward the back exit.

The notion that all of the evil he had confronted in the last seven hours had been mostly his own doing flogged at Edward's mind. He knew he was a monster, but was he truly that evil? Or was the evil so strong in him that he could not see the good?

Susan? She was one of White's victims, having come into the killer's own world, but she was more than that. She was the light in this darkness, wasn't she? Or was it Bella? She had been seeing things from a slightly different angle.

A dozen meaningless sayings cried out to him. A house divided cannot stand. Love your neighbor as yourself.

Light came into the darkness, but the darkness did not understand it.

Susan opened the door, took a deep breath, and then stepped back. Edward saw what she saw over her shoulder. Stewart, Betty, and Pete stood abreast, bearing shotguns, standing in the black fog, glaring at them with glowing yellow eyes. Behind them, the room was filled with twenty or thirty men wearing Tin Man masks, armed with axes. They were all dressed like Edward.

They _were_ Edwards.

"They are all me," Bella whispered.

Not possible, not possible. But real, very real, standing right before him.

For a moment, none of them moved. The house moaned. There was a terrible wail behind the deep, guttural sound.

"Guilty as sin!" Betty hissed, pointing a finger out. "Kill them!"

The Edwards surged forward.

Susan slammed the door and locked it. "Run! After me!"

The room reverberated of splitting wood.

"Run!"

**6:09 AM**

They ran single file from the living room into the hall, Susan leading, then Bella, then Edward.

The hall was wide again with the stairs rising to their immediate left.

They were running blindly now, not sure of where to go or what would await them, Susan as their only guide. Through the door, down the hall, desperate to stay ahead of the pursuit. Madly trying to make sense of what was happening, but hardly able to string together the conscious thoughts required to do so.

Susan sprinted down two halls. Each time they turned a corner, the pounding feet thundered from behind. Where she was taking them? White was going to burn the house down at first light, he had said. If the fog burned as well as the sample he had lit upstairs, the house would go up like a can of gasoline with them trapped inside.

The house had become their own hell. But ahead of them ran a young woman who knew far more than she had any business knowing. The notion that he had ever thought she was somehow working with White now struck Edward as ludicrous. Susan was their only hope. If she died, he knew that they all would surely die.

"Follow me," she said, and so he did, completely at her mercy.

They entered the boiler room, locked the doors, and were halfway up the ladder to the vent when the sound of axes striking at the door echoed throughout the room.

"Hurry!" Edward said from the bottom. "Go!"

Bella grunted and clambered up. "Where are we going?"

"Just hurry," Susan said.

"They will die, right?" Edward asked. "I killed Betty! Why is she still alive?"

"They can die," Susan said. "But demons don't die easily. Just like your own kind."

"Demons? Real demons? But how…"

"Hurry! Quietly!"

The crawl space outside Pete's room was knee deep with the black fog and crowded with Edwards, wandering around, peering past their tin masks into the shadows.

Edward climbed from the vent shaft and stared at the Edwards, who clearly could not see them in the deep shadow. Bella was trembling beside him. He reached for her hand in the darkness, touched her fingers and held her tightly. She stepped closer.

The sound of the Edwards climbing up the ladder behind them reverberated throughout the vent. Susan motioned for silence and crept along the crawlspace, deep in darkness, to the exit hatch. Edward raised it gently and could see the hall. Crowded again with Edwards. They had come the back way and avoided most of the undead, but by all appearances, all of the main sections of the basement were now flooded with Edwards and Stewarts, prowling and hunting them. No matter where they went, they would face an army of evil.

Edward was about to draw this to the attention of Susan when she lifted herself out of a second hatch he had not noticed. He helped Bella out, and then they squeezed through the narrow passageway that spilled into yet another hall.

No fog. No Edwards.

Perhaps the house seemed to know that White planned on burning it down, because with each passing minute, its moans took on more urgency; lower and higher tones entwined into one terrifying wail that ebbed and flowed.

"This way!" Susan darted down the hall to a wood door curved at the top. This was one of the doors in the hall in which he had found Susan.

The safe place.

But with one match, White could change that. _Would_ change that.

They slipped into the passageway, sealed the door quietly behind them, and stood panting in the dark.

"What now?" Edward asked.

"We just circled around the main part of the basement," Susan breathed out, winded from the run. "The door that you were sucked through earlier leads to the study."

"That door is locked."

"No, it's not. You just thought it was locked. But we have bigger problems."

"Like what?"

"We have to go _through_ the study to get to the exit tunnel."

Their voices echoed of the walls.

"So if we can get to it, we can get out through the back door?" Bella asked.

"That one _is_ locked," Susan said.

"And the hall?" Edward asked.

"Is where he is probably waiting for us with more of them than you can count."

"That back door is the only way out?" Edward asked, shocked by her frankness.

"It is the only way."

"That's impossible! There is no way we can get past him!" Bella cried out.

Silence settled in the dark passageway.

Bella took a deep breath. "He is going to burn the house down."

"Follow me," Susan reached over and took both of their hands.

She led them quickly forward into the darkness. Running was one thing, Edward thought, but running straight into them was another.

Edward pulled up short. "This is crazy. They will kill us!"

"They might," Susan said. "But they definitely will if you don't start dealing with them on their terms. You need to conquer your own demons."

"I'm supposed to head into a mob of these with my bare hands? I know how to kill my own kind, but _this_ is far from my own kind and there are so many." He knew deep down that was not what Susan meant, but he felt he should point out the considerable imbalance of power there was.

"He's right,' Bella said. "We don't stand a chance. Edward is immortal, he can handle something like this, but me, he will be too focused on protecting me and not paying attention to what really needs to get done."

Susan pulled them forward. "Stop thinking about them. You are giving them more power than they really have."

They were speaking in hushed tones, very quickly moving deeper into the tunnel.

"But they're real," he said. "Their axes are real…"

"Of course, they are real. I am not saying you should walk right into them. But there are greater powers beyond what you can see."

"God? You are saying this is about God? Some huge whatever in the sky set this up?"

"_You_ set this up."

"What are you talking about? We were just driving by when White slashed our tires and lured us to this hellish house."

"It's your house."

"That's crazy."

"It draws most of its power from you. We have been over this! Accept it, Edward. You are at the heart of the battle between good and evil."

"I've prayed to God," Bella said, even though it sounded more like a question.

"Prayed? But do you even believe? Really believe? And do you know how to love, really love? The unconditional kind of love?" Susan's eyebrow shot up as she eyed both of them.

"Love the Lord God with all your heart," Edward mused. "Love your neighbor as yourself. Is that not a famous teaching? Jesus?" He hesitated, meaning settling in his mind like a falling snow. "So what does love look like in a house of horrors?"

"The same way it has always looked," Susan said. Then added after a pause, "It is not just what you do, it is who you are. You have to change who you are, then you can change the house. What Bella sees is not the same as what you see. Bella sees your heart as one that is loving, caring, but lives in the fear that you do not love her enough. At least not enough to have her for eternity. Where as you see the monster, the one that you live with daily and regret. Open your eyes, Edward. Look past the monster and look into the heart that Bella sees. Only then will you be able to get out."

One of the far doors opened without warning, flooding the passage with light. One of the Edwards stood backlit in the opening. He issued a grunt and ran in, followed by others.

Susan flew toward a door along the wall now illuminated by the light.

Edward looked into the shadows beyond them, frantic for anything. The closet that he had found Susan in – he couldn't see it, but he knew it was there, farther from the door that led into the study, for which Susan was now headed.

"The closet!" he whispered.

The other Edward yelled something. They had been spotted.

"We don't have time to hide," Susan snapped. "He is going to torch the house!"

But Edward sprinted for the closet anyway. He had to get his mind straight. Susan hesitated only a brief moment, then followed his lead. They ran into the shadows, into the large closet, closed the door, and stilled their breathing as best they could.

"He is going to burn the house. You should have followed me," Susan said, staring at Edward.

"We are powerless out there!" Edward whispered.

She put her hand on the knob. "Watch me. When I go, you go, hard and fast. Just try to get a weapon, anything that you think will be good, okay?"

He could hear the footsteps as they approached. With any luck, they had entered unseen, covered by the darkness. Without an element of surprise, they would be overwhelmed.

"Edward?"

"Shh…"

"Edward, I can't do…"

He put his hand on Bella's mouth. "Shh…shh…Yes you can. We have to trust her."

"I don't know—"

"Shhhhhhhh…"

The footsteps were coming closer, closer. And then they were there.

Past them. Susan waited a moment longer.

"Now!" she whispered.

She shoved as hard as she could, grunting loudly. The door crunched into a body. A clang of door against tin mask resounded down the passage.

Susan lept out and sized up the situation. Edward saw it all as if in a dream. Three copies of himself, each wearing a Tin Man mask. Two of them ten feet to the right. One right in front of Susan, surprised by her bold entrance. The ax he had been carrying fell to the ground.

For a moment, they all stood frozen by indecision. And then Susan moved, quickly, soundlessly.

Edward watched as she snatched up the fallen ax before the Edward had time to react. She swung the blade with all of her strength as the Edward recovered and tried to jump back.

The blade connected with the man. Sliced into his chest. Through his body. Into thin air, as if the man had been made of all flesh and no bones.

The man roared with pain. The throaty cry immediately rose to a high pitched scream that hurt Edward's ears. Then the man was sucked into himself, and became a twisting pillar of black fog. The fog, heavier than air, collapsed under the tin mask, which clanged to the concrete floor.

No blood. It occurred to Edward then that these copies of himself must come from the fog. _We're_ the fog in this haunted place empowered by his heart. The fog of evil.

Human Nature.

The two Edwards who had passed the closet door started back, roaring with fury, wielding knives. The sound was enough to jumpstart an unbeating heart.

One of the Edwards threw his knife. It was a large blade, maybe a foot long, and Edward watched it turn lazily in the air, bounce off his shoulder, and then tumble to the floor.

"Hurry!" Susan ran for the door that Edward had first been sucked through. They didn't need any other encouragement.

That moment came two seconds later when Susan opened the door into the study.

As far as he could see, there was only one person in the room. But it was not Edward. This was Stewart. And Stewart was armed with a shotgun.

Edward pulled up abruptly, barely aware of Bella's collision with him from behind.

"Go!" Bella cried. "They are coming!"

Edward went.


	24. The House 6:12 AM

Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

**6:12 AM**

Susan slammed the door behind them the second they were through, twisting the lock and, for the moment, protecting their backs.

But their backs were now the least of Edward's worries.

The first and the most important was Stewart. And his shotgun. He faced them from the middle of the room, more amused than surprised.

Black fog covered the floor, coming up to his ankles.

Edward's second concern was a dread that came from his still-dawning realization that the threat facing him was somehow coming from him. From his own heart.

"I believe," he whispered. "I believe. I swear, I believe." But he was still unsure of exactly what that meant.

Stewart still had not raised his gun. He was clearly as aware as Edward that one ax in the hand of a girl was no match for a shotgun at this distance.

Bella's cry of frustration upon seeing Stewart was like a dagger.

Susan stepped forward, ax in both hands. She faced Stewart, putting herself between him and Edward. Bella pressed close behind Edward, his stance changing just slightly, protective of her.

Somewhere in the house, a dozen doors began to slam in unison. _Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang._

But Stewart made no move; Susan faced him, eager neither to attack nor retreat. They had run into a dead end.

Edward wanted to ask what was happening. What he should be doing, if anything. But the words were not forming in his mouth.

For an extended stretch, they faced off. The floor shook with each bang of the doors beyond. It was as if the house was sending its own signal to all inhabitants; that time was close to being up.

Chanting.

_We have them! We have them! We have them!_

Stewart calmly brought up the shotgun and aimed it at Susan. The doors stopped banging in unison. A soft grin appeared on the man's lips.

"There's more, isn't there?" Susan spoke.

The man's smile flattened slightly before he recovered his confidence.

"This is our house now," he said.

"Is it? Do you know who _I_ am?"

"One of them."

"Are you sure?"

Stewart did not answer.

The door opened and Betty walked in. Behind her was Pete. Betty's head was bandaged up with red rags. Edward was quite sure that she was made up of more than flesh and blood. Either possessed or the stuff of possession.

Still, their monsters could be killed; Susan had made that part clear.

Mother and son walked up to Stewart's side and stared at Susan. Pete's eyes locked on Bella over Edward's shoulder, consumed with lust. Bella could hear the small growl rumble from Edward's chest.

"There she is, Mama," Pete said.

This demented oaf knew only one thing. He had the emotional dimensions of a lump of coal.

Betty ignored him. "Remember, he wants these three alive."

"You are going to die today," Stewart said. "All three of you. They always die."

"That is the same thing you told me three days ago," Susan said. "And look at me, I am still alive."

"Drop the ax," Betty said.

Edward fought the panic, and tried to hold his ground, not fly on impulse. That would allow the monster in him to rise and give the house power. How was he supposed to get out of this? He thought about taking the ax from Susan and going straight at them.

Susan hesitated then sat the ax on the floor.

Fear flashed down Edward's back. Not a single bone in his body agreed with anything similar to a plan that included him rushing an armed Stewart. It would have been like jumping off a cliff.

But in that moment, Edward ignored the shaking in his limbs; he leapt around Susan, grabbed up the ax, and rushed toward Stewart.

He was half way there before he heard Susan's cries rushing through his ears. "No, Edward!"

_No, Edward?_ He was already committed! He had to do something! Edward responded by screaming as he threw himself forward, ax swinging down.

Oddly enough, Stewart wasn't shooting. In fact, he was not demonstrating any sign of confrontation or concern at all, unlike the Edwards they had just killed. Stewart was not a reflection of him.

At the last second, after the ax was just about to complete its trajectory, Stewart moved, easily sidestepping the falling blade. Edward realized then, that with whatever strength Susan was talking about, did not come boldness or idiocy.

"Fools," Stewart spat.

"Don't!" Susan cried, rushing forward.

The shotgun boomed. "Stay back!"

Edward pushed himself up to his knees, blinking to clear his head. They were restraining Bella and Susan, who was protesting loudly. She was silenced by a loud _smack._

Susan screamed something, but Edward's mind was yanked back to his own predicament as Stewart grabbed him by the arm and hauled him to his feet, shoving him to the center of the room.

They had forced Bella and Susan down on their knees. Blood dripped from Susan's nose and Bella's face was a bright red. They both stared at Edward with sad eyes. Other than that, neither of them appeared to be harmed.

Stewart forced Edward to his knees beside them.

"Wait for me," Susan whispered.

"Shut your stinking little pie…"

Susan screamed and jumped to her feet while Stewart was still standing over Edward. "Now, Edward!"

He did not know what he was supposed to do _now_, but he dove at Stewart with all of his strength, realizing that his strength was depleting; it was nothing like his normal force or speed.

Susan had her hands around the gun when Edward's head slammed into Stewart's. His left ear was the only piece of flesh that stood between the two skulls.

Stewart screamed out in pain.

Edward plowed forward, threatening to topple the man. From his peripheral vision, he could see Pete charging over to help.

Edward saw Bella throw herself into Pete's path like a woman possessed. She brought her knee up to his groin with enough force to stop an elephant, screaming with Susan to maximize her efforts.

Betty was screaming now as well, but none of their cries even mattered. Stewart was now falling with Edward toward the ground. Susan held the gun.

She flipped it around, cramming the butt into her shoulder, and put a round into the ceiling to make sure there was no mistake on who was in control now and that she knew how to use it.

"Against the wall!" she shouted, aiming at Betty's head. She then moved to Pete's, "against the wall!"

Edward rolled off of Stewart and then threw him to the wall.

For a moment, Betty, Pete and Stewart were all too stunned by the sudden reversal of roles to move.

"Move!" Susan cried.

They moved slowly to the wall, eyes fixed, still unsure they had actually been foiled.

"Edward, make sure that the doors are locked! Hurry!"

He was not sure what she had in mind, but he ran to the main door and secured the dead bolt.

"You will never make it out," Stewart said. "You are still outnumbered."

"Shut up!" Susan ordered.

Edward hurried for the other door that led back to the exit tunnel, eyes on Pete, who even now was still fixated on Bella. The dead bolt was already engaged.

"Are you going to kill them?" Bella asked Susan. "Maybe we should kill them. They are not real people, right?"

"That won't help us. We need to—"

_Rap, rap, rap._

Susan jerked her head to the door behind Edward as she heard the knocking sound on the door that led to the exit.

"No matter what happens," Susan said. "Remember…"

The door shook, then bowed under the tremendous force. Black fog seeped into the study.

"…that light always pierces the darkness."

The door shook violently and bowed again, this time several feet, straining against whatever held it in place.

Edward rushed for the ax and quickly snatched it up.

"Check the chamber in the gun," Edward yelled over his shoulder.

Susan did.

The door behind them – the one that led into the living room - began to rattle. It, too, bent from the force. As did the third and the forth door.

"Light came into the darkness, but the darkness did not understand it," Susan said. "Look into the light. Only the light can save you from yourselves."

"What's there?" Bella asked, eyes darting from door to door.

"He's come."

But it sounded like more than one _he._ Edward could not help thinking that all of the undead, however many hundreds of them crowded this house of his making, had come and were pressing in on all sides, leaving no escape.

"Edward," Bella was whispering, scared. Her eyes darted from door to door. "I don't understand what is happening…"

The knuckles on the door that led to the exit tunnel rapped again.

The door to the exit tunnel blew open. Wisps of black fog rolled in, but nothing else. The other three doors stilled.

Then they came, like a pack of jackals; a dozen, two dozen Edwards, surging into the room. Half broke to the right, half to the left, forming two fronts like a forward guard.

Edward backpedaled to where Susan and Bella stood in the middle of the room.

Still they came; thirty, forty, crowding by the door now, glaring at him, gripping weapons, but otherwise just waiting.

All with tin masks.

Except for a handful of inbreds that Edward now recognized from the hall, they were all Edwards. All him. He was facing himself and it made his knees tremble. Stewart, Betty, and Pete were now content to look on, smirking.

"Susan?" Edward asked.

She had the gun up, but was not shooting. What good would it do when there were so many and more than likely not very bullets left?

Bella held onto Edward's arm tightly. That was one good thing, he thought. Bella. She was here, facing no less than he. They would die together, just the way that she had wanted for so long. They could now live in eternity together. Just not quite in the same sense she had expected.

The Edwards' eyes were on his. Not a single one averted their stare, and for a moment, not a single one even blinked.

Then the Edwards by the door parted and Edward knew that their waiting was over.

Tin Man stepped into the room.


	25. The House 6:14 AM

Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

**6:14 AM**

The room became quiet; everything and everyone come to a standstill. Tin Man walked toward them and stopped ten feet away at the edge of the lines formed by the Edwards.

He faced them in stoic silence. In his right hand, he held the shotgun. The wounds in his arm and his forehead had soaked the bandages but had not slowed him down.

For a few seconds, he just stared at them through the jagged holes of his tin mask. His breathing was hard and steady.

"The wages of sin is death," Tin Man said. "In the end, they always pay up."

Susan made no attempt to aim the shotgun at him. The ax in Edward's hand felt small and flimsy. He knew that there was no way he would be able to get Bella and Susan out, at least not alive.

"Drop the gun," White said.

Susan released the weapon and it clattered onto the ground.

Tin Man's eyes shifted to her as he regarded her for a moment.

"I am so sorry, Edward," Bella whispered frantically into his ear. "This is my entire fault. They are all staring at me. I am so sorry."

Edward realized that she was seeing herself - Bellas, not Edwards - and their stares were telling her that she was guilty, but of what?

Edward eased sideways on trembling legs, putting himself between Bella and White. If his heart were still beating, it would be pounding by now. Just like the sound of the banging doors.

"Welcome to your house," Tin Man said. He grunted with satisfaction. "Do you like it?"

He unceremoniously lifted the shotgun. Silence sucked all but the sound of ragged breathing from the room. The Edwards just stared.

"Kill her," Tin Man said.

At first Edward did not know what he was ordering. With the tin mask on, it was hard to tell whom he was addressing.

"Kill Susan," Tin Man said. "Or I will kill all three of you."

"What?" Edward asked.

"If you kill her, I will let you and Bella go," a smile could almost be heard in his voice. "Just like I let Emmett and Jasper go."

His brothers got out? What about Rose and Alice? They had both insisted that Edward and Bella keep going; that they were staying behind with their mates. He knew that when a mate dies, one would surely follow.

"Free as birds," Tin Man said, "Now kill her."

Edward couldn't speak. He couldn't kill Susan, no more than he could change Bella. Then again, he couldn't _not_ kill Susan, because that would surely mean Bella would die, too.

Edward closed his eyes, both choices would be unforgivable.

Tin Man breathed hard and slow behind the mask. Edward's mind spun through the most glaring elements of this mad moment.

_Element 1: This was their last chance._

_Element 2: Tin Man was lying. He would kill them anyways._

_Element 3: Tin Man had always wanted them to kill Susan, so he probably wasn't lying._

_Element 4: He owed Bella his life. She did not deserve to die. He had to save her._

_Element 5: He could save Bella with one swing of the ax._

_Element 6: He could never swing the ax in his hands at Susan!_

The thoughts began to overlap one another, tilting his orientation toward no clear conclusion.

"Would thirty pieces of silver help you make a decision?"

_Thirty pieces of silver?_

"You know you can do it. They all want you to do it. All of you," Tin man said. "You have done so much worse."

As if on cue, all four doors began to rattle. They shook violently and then bent inward. More black fog appeared.

None of the Edwards turned to look. Their eyes were trained on Edward.

The doors crashed open, pushed by a sea of Edwards who flowed into the room like a swarm of insects; an army of rushing Tin Man protégés who appeared as Edward, the eyes of every last one fixed upon him.

Bella screamed.

Edward saw beyond them, beyond the doors, where hundreds, maybe thousands, of them crowded the basement hallways and rooms. The fog had given birth to a thousand Edwards.

The Edwards packed every conceivable corner, leaving a ten foot circle at the center where Edward, Bella, and Susan were.

Their tin masks and weapons clicked and clanked, and their shoes thudded, but they did not speak. They only drilled him with their eyes through jagged holes.

"Dear God!" Bella began to whimper. "Oh, dear God!"

Tin Man glared at Edward. It was impossible to tell if he were relishing the moment or getting bitter.

"You know you want to kill her."

He had addressed Edward, but now all the Edwards answered by shifting eagerly on their feet, some bouncing on the balls of their feet, as if to nod yes. All of them were still drilling Edward with stares. Their breathing quickened, and now a few could not restrain the odd grunt or whimper. They were beginning to get desperate for Edward to kill Susan.

Why Susan? Why such an obsession with this one girl? This one human girl?

"Your heart is dark, Edward. You need to see the light," Susan whispered, her voice still strong.

Her words seemed to agitate the Edwards even more. They swayed and jostled and clicked one another.

"What light?" Bella asked, looking around.

Tin Man moved to Bella. "Don't be a complete fool. Why don't you kill her?"

Bella's eyes widened in horror at the idea of killing someone.

Edward's eyes settled on two Edwards standing perfectly still to his left. Only he was not an Edward. They wore the same tin mask as everyone, but their heights, stance, and even the clothing was different.

They were dressed like Emmett and Jasper.

They _were_ Emmett and Jasper.

White saw Edward's shift in attention and glanced over to Emmett and Jasper.

"I killed Rose," Emmett said.

"I killed Alice," Jasper said.

Just like that. _I killed them_, as if they were at once both proud and ashamed. But how? Edward's mind twisted again, this was not happening. His family had fallen apart; the house taking was them down. All of their sins, their kind, their very existence. Rage began to build deep down inside of him, the monster that he had kept at bay for so long. Rising.

Tin Man swung his shotgun around and pulled the trigger. The lead hit Emmett square in the chest and pushed him into the wall of Edwards behind before dropping him to the ground. Tin Man then turned to Jasper. The blast of the gun should not have done anything to them. They should have been able to withstand the shot. Something was not right.

The energy from the sea of Edwards doubled. Their sound grew to a dull roar of banging and bouncing. They were urging Edward on; pleading with him. And at the same time, mimicking what he felt inside.

He felt compelled, irresistibly drawn, to satisfy the demands of those Edwards.

Tin Man swung his gun to Edward. "Kill her!"

Edward hesitated for a long second. He spoke without fully understanding himself. "No!"

Almost immediately the Edwards stilled, as if stunned.

Edward said it again, to assure himself that he had really said it the first time, his eyes becoming darker than any night as his voiced flooded the room, "No!"

Silence. Breathing.

"You are a fool," Tin Man said.

Susan took a step out between him and Bella then turned her back on him to look at Edward.

Tears were leaking from her eyes, her cheeks wet, but there was softness in her eyes.

"Kill her," Tin Man growled, angry, shaken. It was the first time Edward had seen the man lose any control. "She has to die!"

"You think one dead body will satisfy his lust for death?" Susan asked Edward. "Not unless that person has no guilt. Not unless they are blameless. Only the Son of Man can do that. Look into the light and you will understand. I will show you the way. Look to the Son of Man."

Son of Man?

Tin Man seemed to become unglued behind Susan. It made no sense. He could just pull the trigger and end all of this on his own. Instead, he was shaking.

"Kill her," he roared.

"He said no!" Bella said, stepping out from behind Edward.

Barsidious White stared at the girl through the holes in his mask, feeling hatred boiling in his gut, knowing he could not stop himself now.

Until a few minutes ago, the game had proceeded perfectly, as it always had, even with this interesting twist presented by the girl and the vampires. He had lost track of how many houses he had played this game in. He had entered the house to invoke the powers of darkness to fill the house, to personify the evil of all who had entered. The house, like him, obediently became a crucible power.

Into each house he invited enough demons to make life hell for the victims; Stewarts, Petes, and Bettys, as well as various other inbreds. But more importantly, there were the hosts of Edwards and Bellas who mirrored their own natures.

Edward and Bella were guilty, and so in the end, they would die.

But what about Susan?

His earlier suspicions were that Susan might not be guilty at all were now screaming to the surface. She was more than anything he had ever confronted.

His urgency to see Edward to kill her forced him into betraying his desperation. Edward had said 'no' and he had nearly killed the man then. He would have if Susan had not stepped in the way. And now Bella, the girl who could not live a second by herself.

And why did he not just kill her? An hour ago, he would have said it was because she was for the others to kill.

Now something deep in his psyche suggested her death might not be such a good thing. But he could not comment any reasoning to it.

Bella's face was distorted, terrified. This much he relished. But the still small voice of Susan shredded any delight he could milk out of the unfolding scene. She was too confident, too aware of the reality between dark and light.

But who was she? And where had she come from?

Then Susan turned her back on him and spoke clear, soft words, and it was then that the Tin Man knew who she was. Or at the very least, what part she was playing in the contest of light and darkness, life and death.

He began to panic.

"Kill her!"

The girl spun to face him. "He said no!"

The Tin Man pulled the trigger in uncontrollable rage. Not caring who he shot at this point.

"NO!" Bella said, jumping in front of Susan at the last second. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion.

The shotgun spewed fire with a tremendous boom. Edward could not see the impact of the shot until both Susan and Bella were between him and the Tin Man. But he felt the impact a moment later when both of their bodies flew backward and crashed into his chest.

Susan immediately jumped up and looked horrified at what had just happened. Edward instinctively grabbed hold of Bella and felt the wetness on her back. He saw the room tilt as his mind began to shut down.

"I love you," Bella groaned out, then slumped forward, her breath turning ragged.

"You can still save her, Edward," Susan said. "You won't be punished. Your heart has always been good. She saw that in you." Susan waved her arm around the room. "This is not who Bella saw. She never believed you to be a monster. This is not how it plays out in Alice's vision. You need to save her."

Edward reached down and brushed back Bella's hair from around her face. He knew that time was precious; so much of it had already been wasted.

"Edward, you need to do it quickly."

Rage began to brew deep inside. If he did not change her, he would not want to walk this green Earth ever again. He lowered down close to Bella's neck and whispered in her ear.

"I love you, Bella. I am so sorry."

His lips grazed her neck, then slowly be sank his teeth into the very slowly pulsing vein.

His head jerked up as he suddenly heard another boom from the gun as White fired at Susan, throwing her on top of Bella.

Susan slumped, dead.


	26. The House 6:16 AM

**Chapter 25**

**6:16 AM**

Bella began to scream as the pain of his venom began to course through her. Edward placed Susan on the floor as blood snaked out from under her body. He hung his head low, in the end having been unable to save anyone.

He felt his heart begin to break in stages, like a tall building being brought down by the demolition team. But there did not seem to be any foundation to catch all the debris. It caved in on itself and fell into a deep void of emptiness.

The Edwards had all broken eye contact with him for the first time and now looked at the two girls lying on the ground, mainly to Susan. Mesmerized. The Tin Man chambered another round slowly as if he needed to time to contemplate what he had just done.

Edward heard a faint crackling sound. His eyes went to Susan's blood on the floor. But it was not the red kind of blood he expected to see, nor did it smell the same. Red, yes, but laced with crackling white lights, as if it carried a charge. Bella turned her head to look at Susan on the floor, tears falling from her eyes. She reached over and took hold of Susan's hand, squeezing with each fire of pain.

_Look into the light._

The Edwards had seen it too. Several directly in front of Edward stepped back. They began to bob anxiously. A murmur swelled. Clicking and banging gradually filled the room.

White stared at the girl.

In frantic style, the hundreds of Edwards crowded into the room began to bounce in a strange, ritualistic dance.

Like the door banging earlier. _Now, now, now, now…_

What now?

Or was it some kind of celebration?

"She's the light, Edward," Bella said from her chapped lips, her voice barely a whisper. "Look into the light."

Susan was the light? Of course, he had seen the light, but was she actually the light?

White shifted his eyes on Bella, withering in pain. Then up to Edward.

Resigned to whatever fate now awaited them, Edward lowered to his knees. His throat burned, but not because of thirst. He saw no reason to live, no reason to die, there was no remedy. He only felt pain.

_Look into the light._

Had he seen the light? Was this the light that Alice was talking about?

The Edwards' bouncing cries rose to a loud roar. For the first time, Edward could actually hear the words in their chant. "Kill." They gripped their axes and knives, chatting, and with each chant their voices came closer.

"Kill, kill, kill, kill."

They seemed to be waiting for permission before tearing in. White stood flat-footed; head tilted down to show the lower whites of his eyes.

Bella's whispering rose to a shout; he barely heard it above the chanting. "You are the light!"

Edward's unbeating heart cried out. He said it silently at first with Bella, his eyes focused on her lips as his mind tried to make sense of it all. "You are the light."

Is that what Susan had meant? That he should look to a source of light outside himself? The light came from the darkness.

Bella's whisper changed to a sob, as she began to roll over onto her side, taking in as much of Susan as she could, the fire in her ceasing. "Son of Man have mercy on me!"

Son of Man.

The truth struck Edward full in the face. Susan had taken the burden of death as the guiltless one. She was the light in the darkness, but the wages of sin really was death. The guilty really had to die, just as White had insisted. That was the game.

But Susan was the Christ, the one who had died instead. And Tin Man seemed to know his mistake.

Edward screamed the words with Bella, holding onto her hand and taking Susan's hand in his other. "Son of Man, have mercy on me for I have sinned!"

The grip on Bella's hand, he realized, was a life line. Together they cried out at the top of their lungs, Bella fighting through the pain, Edward fighting with her. Both begging for forgiveness for their existence, for their sins. Their words stumbled over one another in a jumble.

For long seconds he yelled, until it occurred to him that the hissing had stopped. And so had Bella's cries.

Edward opened his eyes and lowered his head. The room had come to an absolute standstill. The crowding Edwards had taken two strides back, axes raised but were frozen as to what to do next.

Why?

He heard the crackle of electricity again. The light? He glanced down.

The blood from Susan's body was brimming with white light again, arcing with white-hot fingers of power. The electricity gathered and blasted into his face. Into his mouth. Into his eyes.

A thick shaft of mind-numbing energy rushed into his body.

He trembled under its power. Too much; it was too much! He jerked his head up and screamed with all of his strength.

And then the power flowed again, as strong as before, only this time it was coming from his mouth. From his eyes.

Edward could see the light as it exited his body, white-hot. He saw it all at what had to be one-tenth of the actual speed, a surreal display of searing power.

The Edward closest to him went rigid at the approaching shaft of light, then screamed and evaporated into a black fog before the light even touched him.

The blaze of light cut through all the Edwards behind the first, twenty or so deep, as if they were nothing more than ash. The light spread out on all sides of Edward, joined by as much light emanating from Bella, who was screaming beside him.

The terrible shrieks of the undead filled the room, each crumbling to ash before the low, crackling hum of power that came from him and Bella.

The light came into the darkness, and the darkness did not understand it, but that no longer mattered because the light was now obliterating the darkness.

Still they screamed. Still the light came forth.

White's body jerked with the full impact of the light streaming from both Edward and Bella. He came to the ground, folded forward, and screaming with his hands held to his head, in pain.

For a few seconds White hung in the air as if gut-punched, shaking under the raw power that ran through his body. His screams were swallowed up by a roar of light. He was unceremoniously released and dumped to the floor where he lay in a pile, unmoving.

Still they screamed. Still the light came forth.

And then Edward collapsed out of pure exhaustion into Bella's arms.

From outside the house, no one would know the horrors that had ravaged Edward and Bella in the depths of the basement as dawn began to break the surface.

A faraway scream now and again, the faint sound of milling insects…all sounds plausibly from the nearby forest rather than from inside the large, long-ago abandoned house.

All the windows were barred and dark, all the doors sealed tight. Any soul on a casual stroll through the woods might see the old brown pickup wedged up on the front porch and think it to be the act of kids who had gone joy riding, but otherwise, the house looked like many other similarly abandoned homes in the backwoods.

But all of that changed at precisely 6:17 in the morning.

It started with a barely visible flash of light that momentarily lit the house and then was gone as if a flash grenade had been sent off in the basement.

Then the light was back, only now it was brimming through the space between the doors and through the cracks in the closed shutters and in some cases glowing bright from uncovered windows.

The light grew brighter, blinding white. Rays of light broke past the thin cracks and streamed into the air.

Windows rattled as it attempting to contain the surge of energy that pressed them to their breaking point. The front door creaked, and for a moment, the whole house began to tremble.

The shutters and the windows throughout the house loosened from their hinges and the latches, with a loud bang, and blew open. Light shot into the sky in thick shafts, riding a strum that lasted no more the seven seconds.

Then, as if someone had pulled the plug, the light disappeared, and the house was once again shrouded in shades of gray. The windows swung lazily on their hinges for a moment.

Then the house was still.

**7:00 AM**

Edward stood behind the stone wall a hundred or so feet from the door, his arm wrapped tight around Bella's waist, holding her close and staring at the silent house.

To their right, two police cruisers sat with lights flashing red and blue. Three officers were approaching the house, one still on the radio.

"It looks that way. We found Officer Lawdale's cruiser a half mile back, abandoned with the other three cars. We have reports of two survivors who believe the killer impersonated him."

The radio crackled. "You are saying, five dead, and two survivors."

"That is unconfirmed, but we are going in now."

"Copy that."

The cop shut the door to his cruiser and then turned to walk toward Edward and Bella. "Are you sure you are okay?"

Edward nodded. "Fine."

"Stay put. We are going in. You are sure no one's alive inside?"

"I am pretty confident, yes."

The cop nodded his head and walked up the stone walk.

An old rusted washing machine sat to the left of the flagstone walk. Tall grass rose to their calves. The house itself stood stoically before them, an old abandoned house now showing its true colors.

They could see the concrete stairwell that descended down toward the basement on the right of the house. The door at the bottom was still open just as they had left it, and one of the cops had just disappeared through it.

Birds chirped. Insects sang.

They had woken inside to only find one body. White's. There was no Emmett, Rose, Alice, or Jasper. There were no Bettys, Stewarts, or Petes. And there was no Susan.

The first police cruiser had arrived just as they were crawling out of the basement. The cops had found Officer Morton Lawdale dead in his house an hour earlier; he had failed to report to work for his midnight shift. The abandoned cruiser had led them to the house; to the only structure within three miles, an abandoned house set back off the road.

Edward took Bella's hand in his.

"Where do you think they are?" she asked, looking into the woods, her new senses overpowering her.

Edward shook his head. Since exiting the house, he had regained his "gift" and had not heard anything from his family, nor had he been able to smell them.

"What about Susan?" She asked.

"I don't know."

"Who was she?"

"I…I don't know."

"She was real, wasn't she? I mean, I felt nothing of the transformation, it all happened so fast. She had to have had something to do with that."

"I don't know. I think so."

They did not know. What they did know was that they had come face-to-face with themselves and with evil and perhaps with Lucifer himself and had somehow survived because of Susan.

They were both quiet for a moment, awash in the effects of the reality that had presented itself to them in this dark corner of the world.

"Are you sure this really happened?" Bella asked.

Edward blinked at her. "It happened. Like the game of life, it happened all in one night."

"Game of life?"

"You live your life, and in the end you either live or die, depending on the choices you make."

Bella was quiet as she squeezed Edward's hand. "You made the right choice."

Movement on their left caught Edward's attention. He looked up and his breath caught in his throat. A girl stepped out of the trees and was walking toward them. Susan…

And the rest of his family.

Edward released Bella's hand and made a move. "Susan and…"

"It's them!"

The Cullens ran toward each other, while Susan kept her distance.

"I knew Edward would make the right choice!" Alice screeched, throwing her arms around Bella.

The girl was still dressed in the same tattered white dress, now covered red with blood. Edward glanced back to the house, where the three officers had just entered. The forth making a sweep behind, his weapon drawn.

Edward walked up and stopped in front of her. Bella quickly caught up with Edward. There was a gentle smile playing on Susan's lips.

"What happened?" Bella asked.

"I knew you could do it," she winked at Edward.

Edward was unsure of what his eyes were seeing. He asked the same question as his wife. "What happened?"

"Light came into the darkness," Susan answered. "That is what happened."

Edward caught a glimpse of Bella's wide eyes.

"You… who are you?"

"Susan."

"But you are real, aren't you?"

"Of course I am real, silly Bella. Just as real as the day he locked me into the basement. Although I came willingly."

"So…so you're an …" Bella's voice stopped short of the question.

"An...what?" Susan asked.

"An angel?" Edward asked, her mind still cut off to him.

"An angel? You mean a real angel that walks on the earth and looks like a regular person? Hmm. Just think of me as someone who has shown you the way by shedding a little light on the situation."

Edward looked to Bella. He had heard of such things. In his years, he had learned that nothing is impossible. Angels walking among humans was no different than his own kind. But he had never given them a second thought; then again, he had never given God a second thought either.

The radio in the closest cruiser came to life.

"We do not see any bodies. Do you copy? There are no bodies!"

Static filled the air."Can you verify that? They said that the killer was in there dressed in Lawdale's uniform."

"Roger that. No sign of any one, not in the basement."

"Cop, proceed with caution."

"How…how is that possible?" Bella asked.

The rest of the family walked over to Susan, everyone back to their old selves, everyone but Bella.

"There is something else you should know," Susan said, looking at each of them. "White is not finished."

One of the windows to the attic drifted open.

"I thought we beat him! That we beat the house!" Bella cried.

"You beat the evil in your hearts. Look closely."

Everyone turned and stared up to the windows of the house. At first, Edward saw nothing. It looked exactly the way it had a few moments before, except now all the windows were sealed shut again.

Then he saw the faint gray shape in the attic window. It was a person staring down at him without moving.

A bald person. Stewart.

And next to him were Betty and Pete.

He heard Bella gasp and saw her bring her hand to her mouth. She had seen it, too, along with the rest of the Cullen family. The undead stared out the window, faint, so faint but they were there, really there.

Stewart moved away from the window and disappeared into the house.

"They are still there?" Edward asked.

"For a while," Susan started. "They will find the place a bit too clean for them now. Too much light has been spread throughout the house. They will eventually move on."

"What then?" Edward asked. "We could walk right in and wipe them out, beat them again, could we not?"

"Yes, I think we could," Bella said.

"They would probably run right out the back door as soon as they saw us coming," Edward added.

Edward turned to look back to Susan. "Susan?"

But she was gone. He scanned the clearing. "Susan!"

"She's gone," Bella said.

"So what was she?" Jasper asked.

"She was an angel," Bella said, looking up Edward. "She saved us all."

Bella turned around and look at Stewart for a few moments, then threw her hands up and a terrible hiss came from her mouth.

"Shoo!" she screamed

And it shooed.

"_Never fear, Edward. You and your family have never been forsaken. Bella has always seen the good in all of you. You did not take her soul like you think, and she is going to do such great things. God is always around. Just look into the light," _Susan's voice came through his mind.

He looked down at Bella and took her in his arms. "I do have a soul."

Bella smiled up at him. "I always knew that."

"Come on, you all! Let's go home!" another voice bellowed up behind them. They turned and saw Carlisle and Esme walking from the Mercedes.

They began to walk to the father figure in their life. All of them taking one last look at the house. It was their house after all.

Edward reached into his pocket and took out his lighter; with one quick flick of his fingers he threw the lighter toward the house setting it ablaze.

"So what happened to the rest of you, how did you get out?" Bella asked the other four.

"We don't know, we just found ourselves in the woods," Alice linked her arm with Bella's. "I am just glad that you and Edward found the light."

And the light they did find. Never again would they see themselves as monsters, but as vampires with souls.


	27. Authors Note

Authors Note:

I know you all hate these but had to let you know that my story House has been nominated for the Indy Twilght Fic Award.

If you have not read House yet, go check it out under my bio and then head over to theindietwificawards dot com

Update: I am currently working on my second novel which is for JulyNaNo. Another 50,000 words written in 30 days.

My first novel has been through three rounds of edits with several query letters sent. I have had 2 partial requests on them. Currently though it is sitting at an editors office to get more kinks worked out of it.

My story Right or Wrong is still sitting on the burner but it is simmering. I have a couple of incomplete chapters but it just doesn't feel right...


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